One man's screed

This has absolutely NOTHING to do with liberal bias or conservative bashing or conservative bias or liberbal bashing. Repeat - this is really not to a political thread.

But this screed is so thorough and so spot-on that I just felt compelled to share it here. I've been involved with the newspaper industry for more than 25 years now and, I have to say, I've never been more angry and frustrated.

Most of the droning talking heads in our industry weep and moan about what's killing newspapers. My reply? Newspapers aren't being killed, their committing suicide through obstinance and stupidity.

"It never seems to occur to most journalists that - like the American auto industry - the quality of what they do could be upgraded drastically."

That's a big piece of it. And not just w/ the alternate presentation methods he cites...newspaper writing is abysmal in the basics:grammar, syntax. It also reeks of opinion. One talented hometown columnist (retired) wrote that as a cub reporter, when he included an adverb in an article his editor told him to, "Keep his opinions to himself!" Wow, have newspapers ever strayed from that rigor!

Tufte also cites the resistance of journalists to use presentation tools he's developed. Of course Tufte is rather arrogant and condescending (I like him) but that doesn't diminish the fact that he has some worthwhile ideas.

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News Papers have always had an Air of Dryness to them and I don't mean that in a 'put-down sort of way' ..... they are just not personal and are not designed to be.

The Internet has really created an Interactive News Venue with immediate exchanges of ideas and this makes people get instantly involved .... it gives one a sense of being a part of the process rather than a bystander that must adhere to the articles and Op-Ed's in a day old Printed News Paper.

News Paper and Periodical Subscriptions are way down and it is being blamed on the mass availability of instant and updated info via the Net .... this is one of the main reasons the 'powers that be' are trying so hard to ruin the Internet.

They have been trying to steal the Internet since 1999/2000 and I believe they have finally created the solution with "Internet 2".

I hope they fail and the Hackers and Pirates hang in there on Underground Connections, but the "Power Brokers" are spending $Billions to finally take over what was designed to be Free to All Human Beings.

I think all forms of Information has its place and importance - - why can't the playing field be left alone as is ??

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If Obama tries to bail out the New York Times later this year when they go bankrupt, it will be interesting to see how it plays out on 1st Amendment grounds. The State would essentially be buying a major Newspaper.

Not like its not currently a voluntary Democrat Newspaper as it is.

(02-26-2009 12:47 PM)GGniner Wrote:  If Obama tries to bail out the New York Times later this year when they go bankrupt, it will be interesting to see how it plays out on 1st Amendment grounds. The State would essentially be buying a major Newspaper.

Not like its not currently a voluntary Democrat Newspaper as it is.

GGinner: The NYT got its bailout from a Mexcian billionaire.

Newspapers have resisted changing their business model for decades and now, even in the face of imminent doom, still refuse to budge.

they didn't get enough from him though, for long term. The Stock is still nose diving.

If they ever do go under, NBC will be reduced to getting all their talking points from Liberal Blogs like ThinkProgress and DailyKos

BG - I've always respected you on this forum, and you are a level headed guy. As requested I read the entire article, and do have some sympathies - a good friend from HS was as Chicago Tribune sports reporter before being laid off.

But for you or anyone to dismiss or not place remarkable importance on the OBVIOUS bias of today's media is nothing short of burying your head in the sand.

I used to get the daily Strib here in MPLS. Then I only got the Sunday Strib. Then I only got the Sunday Strib for the ads. Finally, I cancelled even the Sunday strib because the bias was positively remarkable. Not remarkable to me because of my conservative view, but remarkable to me as a member of the community reading story after story about BushHitler and Gitmo, about how the protesters at the RNC were just innocent little rabblerousers, how greedy fat cats at corporations made too much money, about how evil the Republican Governor was because he didn't meet personally with at poor person who was losing his house etc etc etc. My neighbor is a Strib reporter, and we (politely) argue endlessly over what the place of reporting is in society - he believes, as a schooled reporter, that he is too "speak truth to power", however I want him to fairly report both sides, and let the reader decide.

So when newspapers go back to presenting the news, without bias, then they will win back their audience. Everything else is secondary.

Until then, many swathes of the American news hungry public will continue to view newspapers as opinion pieces masquerading as news organizations, and vote with their pocketbooks as such.

The author cites examples like the Huffinton Post as an example of writers making money on the internet. Thats laughable. All HP does is aggregate RSS feeds and passes it off as their own content with zero attribution (in other words, they plagiarize for a living). The writers of the original content (who likely ARE working for a dead-tree paper) dont see a dime. At the end of the day, these sites still need an old school newspaper to provide their content, because they sure as hell dont have their own expensive newsroom with a team of journalists and multinational bureaus. This article sums up the way they do things:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/st...pe/090115/

For instance, check out this guys comment on that article:

Quote:
As a photographer who has had images ripped off by HuffPo more than once, I have to say I don't want, didn't ask for and don't appreciate the visibility, promotion, and distribution you claim to offer! I'd be more than happy to license my copyrighted images for use on your site, but the idea that you think it's just groovy to steal my photographs and use them without payment is ridiculous. I can't pay my bills with your high & mighty talk of visibility, promotion, and distribution...my business model revolves around cold, hard cash and if websites like HuffPo refuse to pay creative professionals like myself for the content we provide, I have zero use for them!

Lord Stanley: Thanks for the kind words.

I'm not, by any means, totally dismissing bias (real or perceived) as a problem.

However, I can assure you that the core problem for newspapers has little or nothing to do with that. Yes, some people will cancel subscriptions because of this bias (again, real or perceived) and that will have a negative impact. But the business issues are much more complicated and are the REAL reason newspapers are failing. Even if a newspaper and its Web site is filled with laughable crap, it can build and sustain a significant audience and business.