The unofficial online home for fans of the Old Dominion University Monarchs. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(05-19-2018 11:39 AM)Monarchblue Wrote:  One part of your statement struck me differently than you intended. The Blockbuster comparison reminded me that nobody has taken the market that I think newspapers could and should carve out. A place for good local digital content that features down the middle, "just the facts" reporting. I would pay for that, and I think a lot of people would. Sadly, it would require a lot more cutting, starting with print, a massive pivot in how they connect with people, and a serious undertaking to prioritize building an amazing digital user experience. Simple, right? *Sarcasm*

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I think the Pilot actually does a fairly decent job at that. The problem they, and almost all legacy publications, have is that people often view everything they do through the prism of the editorial board's edicts. If the ed board leans left or right, so too do the reporters. And if not the ed board, then the featured columnists. People who think the Pilot is liberal trash often point to the editorials. People who think the Pilot is conservative trash often pointed to Kerry Dougherty (well, not anymore because she's gone too, but you know where I'm coming from).

Plus at this point, the public square has become so balkanized that I'm not sure it's possible for any journalism venture, centuries old and showroom-floor new alike, to be considered "unbiased" by large swaths of the public. We'll always be looking for that gotcha moment, a story we think is biased or an owner that contributed to a cause we don't like, as the thread we can pull to unravel the whole mess. That's where we are these days.

The other problem is that despite what you say — and I have no reason to doubt you personally on this point — people generally don't want to pay for news. Information wants to be free. The newspapers held a decided advantage over TV and radio because of the reusability of their product — newspapers can be read over and over in a day, while a radio or TV report is limited and can't be repeated on demand easily. But now everyone has fast internet access that allows them countless legitimate news sources, aggregators, commentary sites that react to others' reporting and message boards that disseminate the news secondhand.

Like this board. Even though the mods do a good job of ensuring that the intellectual property of news gatherers are protected by removing full copies of their stories, pretty much everything related to ODU sports will find its way here sooner rather than later. And why pay, say, $10 a month for the Pilot or Daily Press if the news they cover is going to be talked about here or places like here? Most people pay a decent monthly sum to have internet access. It's like going to Busch Gardens — they're already paying $80 to enter the park; they aren't going to want to pay another $10 to ride the Loch Ness Monster.

In one sense, you're right — in theory, at least, the Pilot or a newspaper like it should just rip the band-aid off all at once and gut out the hard times that follow in an effort to remain relevant in the future. But the cuts to make it happen would be so severe that inevitably it would severely hinder their ability to do the thing they're trying to do.