Death of the Newspaperman

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• Reader Comments (12)

  Page 1 of 1 pages

  Our local paper in Cleveland, the Plain Dealer, is a perfect example of the problems facing the newspaper industry.  I think in Plain Dealer’s case that many subscribers lost interest in all the reprinted information.  Core local, regional, and state stories had weak coverage as well.

  National news is so easy to obtain these days that newspapers should focus on regional and some state issues.  The Internet still can’t compete with the local reporter!

  Posted by Bill_W on Jul 4, 2009 at 12:00 AM

  High-end journalism can and should bite any hand that tries to feed it, and it should bite a government hand most viciously.

  So, I’m sure this was written before WaPo publisher Katharine Weymouth, a low-end two-bit journalistic whore by any measure, started trying to sell herself at $25,000 a pop.  Her price is outrageous, if her actions are common.

  It is standard practice in the mainstream Marxist media (MSMM).  Dan Rather tried to sabotage the 2004 elections and got caught lying.  NBC and ABC are selling Obama infomercials that no one seems to watch or care about.  No one pays attention to NYT, LAT, and WaPo because their dishonest anti-Americanism and anti-Constitutionalism have caught up with them. 

  It is not that all newspapers and TV networks are doing poorly.  Media that are not trying to sell Marxism as a way of life are doing acceptably well even in bad times: WSJ, IBD, Fox, etc.  But if you have Marxist journos that attended Marxist journo schools and work for a Marxist media company, almost by definition these Marxist newsmen and news outlets are in well-deserved financial difficulty; no one buys their product.  The Gramscian perversion of Marxism (like the Leninist perversion of Marxism before it) seems to work quite well in the short run, but you cannot make a proletarian revolution out of it when the proles refuse to read your propaganda, and are revolted by your attacks on their values.  Americans are neither kulaks nor campesinos. 

  I also take exception to the author’s disparagement of bloggers.  The whole idea of the First Amendment is that people are free to say what they want, and are also free to decide what they want to listen to.  Americans do not want to buy what the MSMM is selling and are voting with their dollars, so what are you complaining about?  The Constitution works as intended, even as Marxism has never worked as intended.  Elite Marxist journalists have the least to contribute to the national debate.  Whatever else you may say about bloggers, as a group they do not have a corrupt, subversive agenda, and that puts bloggers way ahead of the MSMM in the information wars.

  Posted by scorp on Jul 4, 2009 at 3:37 AM

  Nonprofits can work.  I think ConsumerReports.org has been successful at getting online subscribers to its content because the nonprofit model seems less corruptible and more independent.

  We just have to convince the public that reliable public institutions and government are as important as reliable appliances and cars.

  Posted by Theodore on Jul 6, 2009 at 6:24 PM

  Ya know , I’m not so sure the newspapers are dying out , so much as they are really just trying to save a buck…It doesn’t take much insight to see that by cutting back on their workforce and blaming it on the internet ; they save money. I understand that folks are using the net for news , but the real problem for this Blackhorse is that the newspaper at least the Washington Post is basically a peice of garbage..The reporting for the most part is extremely bias if not down right racist , local news concerning young people or neighborhood interests are under reported or mostly focused on the negative situations ; there are a lot of positive stories that could be reported on but the Post won’t touch them.It seems only logical that it the Post wanted to increase it’s readership ; they would market a newspaper that was much more reflective of the community that they serve….Ya know ; something more substantial , germane , truly relevant to the audience , this would facilitate a higher volume of readers. But the Post doesn’t or rather wouldn’t do this…..............True.

  Posted by blackhorse on Jul 7, 2009 at 8:38 PM

  The decline of the newspaper is obviously a very complex event but the noise from the lunatic fringe that appears at the bottom of most Internet pieces these days does make one long for the plain paper, the bottomless cup of coffee at the local diner, and the sounds of Sunday. Just because everyone can, doesn’t mean that everyone should.

  One problem that I see has been the newspapers’ caving in to some sort of lowest common denominator best described by Curtis White in his “Middle Mind.” A certain star system, too, has installed itself, even among simpler publications like this one, thus they become ivory tower-like, above the fray, inaccessible. What this has created is a certain incestuousness and monotony. Always the same names, always the same people, virtually always the same standpoint. Diversity has given way to a CI that is often bland. Even in publications like this one. Outside input is thrown off the cliff along with the myriad emails that come in everyday. As a freelancer, I used to have a 90% answer rate to queries.  I could survive on writing from abroad.  In January, I queried 54 targeted publications (including ITT)  with an exclusive interview with a high-powered European political figure. I received 0 answers until I wrote several heftier letters pointing out the rudeness of it. (I am myself an editor, and I do take the time to look through the mails and answer them, it’s part of the job, .... I don’t have a spam filter for that reason!) I then got a few lukewarm ones…

  What am I getting at? The fact that there is now so much noise, it is hard to get above it, to get a message through. It’s not so much newspapers that are on the decline, but rather the news itself. This is affecting the form of the message. To make any headway, you have to be outrageous, a mix of Borat and Beck. Or Sarah palin. The rest will just sink into the swamp.

  Posted by Talleyrand on Jul 13, 2009 at 8:53 PM

  Talleyrand….So your implication is that basically there are stories to be reported , but the phenomenalist noise is so loud from the sensationalists , that unbiased or under-reported perspectives get pushed to the wayside….Even by the so-called mainstream publications.
   
  Question Talleyrand , following your point , as stated ; you are in the jounalistic business as an freelancer / editor ; in your opinion is this noise coming more from the neo-con right -wingers or is this phenonenal mischief basically ” business as usual ” ?

  Posted by blackhorse on Jul 14, 2009 at 7:50 PM

  I have some issues with current newspaper reporting:
  1) Too many newspapers are copying and rewriting the news from syndicates like AP. There isn’t much original reporting.
  2) Too much sensationalism targeted towards the negative. I saw one online BBC news article which changed its headline overnight from something like “Japanese economy finally improves” (forgive me but I don’t remember the exact original title) to “Japan economic outlook downgraded “.
  3) Too much reporting is done by incompetents interested in scandals and soundbites. You see this clearly in both science news as well as celebrity news (and political news).

  The citizen journalist may not have the weight needed to keep governments and big business honest, but at least they are free. And given that professional journalists have not been able to keep governments and big business honest…

  Posted by Calvin Loh on Jul 15, 2009 at 4:47 PM

  That’s an interesting point of view Calvin Loh….Independent citizen journalist may not have the credentials or the journalist creditability as say a ” big name ” celebrity journalist , but they do have the power ( freedom ) ; to go where they choose and report on any particular subject that may be of interest or present itself. 
  Example ; the general public may or may not find former House Rep. Cynthia Mckinney (Ga.) of interest , but she did run for the ‘08 presidency on the green party ticket ; then of late former representive Mckinney was arrested or more correctly kidnaped , while on a humanitarian mission to Gaza , attempting to aid the Palestinian civilians trapped by the illegal Israeli blockade. No major newspaper covered or attempted to report on this story ; she recieved minimal coverage on her presidential aspirations , being that her party affiliation was of a Green Party candidacy….
  Let the public decide , but no ; the major news outlets just ” don’t cover her or individuals of that particular political perspective ” . If they do , the attempt is to make the individual look like some kind of unbalanced extremist ,case in point ; current supreme court nominee Sotomajor ; the reporting is excessively confined ; bias!!
  Print what judge Sotomajor said , don’t paraphrase ; that’s very unprofessional , unbalanced and extremist from the Blackhorses perspective…
  A former US congresswoman , US citizen , is taken into custody , arrested , and no major news agency whats too touch the story ? This is extremely odd !!   
  Sooo True…................................

  Posted by blackhorse on Jul 15, 2009 at 8:39 PM

  Hi blackhorse, sorry to get back late, I am actually trying—in vain—to query stories again… Good question. Actually from neither and both…. The noise is a combo of everything from instant messaging, email (which is cheap and available), Twitter, blogging, etc…. By now there is so much message flying about, so many people are involved in the discussion, there is no possible way for any news of real importance to get through. Add to that the unbelievable sanguinity of the audience (even here in Europe, alas) , which gets bored of any story that is developing for more than three days. By the time some ripe and considered information is being dispensed, the media have already shifted to a new topic.

  As a freelance journalist, it is a catastrophe, because I have to find some outlet in time for stories, and mostly the US media are uninterested in anything going on outside the 50 states, unless it is sensational or in at that moment. That, in turn, means that news and info gets repetitive. As an editor, on the other hand, I worked until last year with a colleague, who also believed in being counterintuitive. We did a business publication, but were very critical of the way business was handled. The publisher was horrified, until he realized that it meant people were starting to take his old PR rag seriously. I did a brief piece on Jack Welch, for example, and was the only one who asked “Jurassic Jack” a few difficult questions. I read some of the other reports, they were all licking his boots. (PS: I was also asked to write about fancy cars…, that was like putting the fox in the coop, of course, but we did not lose the carmakers as advertisers. That was really interesting.

  I hope that answers your question and sorry about being long-winded, it’s a topic that is fascinating and I have been in the biz for a loooong time. I am going to be away from any electronics for the next two weeks, so sorry if I don’t get back.

  Posted by Talleyrand on Jul 16, 2009 at 9:18 PM

  An excellent article by David Simon.  He mentions the decline of labor reporting in modern journalism. At the end of the Second World War, US newspapers employed a thousand labor journalists. Now there are hardly any at all. This is a loss, even though the newspapers that once employed 1000 labor journalists were often strongly anti-labor.

  Posted by Nevada_Ned on Sep 14, 2009 at 5:34 AM

  Belatedly,
  Amen!

  Posted by privatesector on Oct 27, 2009 at 6:25 PM

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Also by David Simon

• Death of the Newspaperman
  Don't blame the Internet, the industry's decline is self-inflicted.