The Suicide of Print Journalism

[BridgeTheGap]

The argument goes like this: the Internet came along and started giving everything away for free and those ink-stained wretches grinding away to put out that daily paper that showed up on your doorstep each morning—that product for which you paid good money—just couldn’t be expected to keep up. How, in such an unlevel playing field were the old scribes to play along? Free news vs. paid subscription. The consumers, of course, made the choice that allowed them to spend a little more on Christmas gifts each year or put a little away in savings.

Or so the story goes.

Not so fast, argues Askold Melnyczuk in AGNI:

Read more: http://www.utne.com/Media/Suicide-Print-Journalism-Online-News-WikiLeaks-Private-Manning.aspx#ixzz18CC4V2nf

[Jim__]

1. I don't subscribe to my local paper because there's nothing in it worth reading.

I absolutely agree with what the article is saying.

[prairierose]

2. Many newspapers and other news organizations...

started trying to cut costs long ago by firing or cutting back on actual reporters. They also began interfering with what reporters wrote because they were worried more about their advertisers (corporate customers) than the people buying their paper.

And on top of that, if you wanted to buy a small ad in your local paper for an event or something you wanted to sell, it cost a freaking fortune.

Hence no news and no consumers for a bunch of newsprint filled with ads. Not necessarily useful ads.

[FirstLight]

3. our paper is all but dead

The only reason they still publish is for legal notices, etc... but the reporting is crap.

when I worked there in the 90's, we had 7 reporters and 3 editors, and *still* had a hard time covering all the news and beats...

now they are down to 2 reporters, and recently had to move out of their building because they couldn't afford it.

Not like there is any *less* news in our town, and the publlic is now really un-informed about local issues...

There is a part of me that wonders if it was some kind of weird conspiracy, to keep the populace in the dark and make them complacent about issues. the greed and actions of our own city council over the past few years has definately been questionable, and there has been no watchdog to make sure they are functioning on the up & up...
we have 2 other news orgs that have tried to pick up the slack...one is a MONTHLY, though they can look more in depth into issues, the act of holding feet to the firs and actually making a difference is nominal. The other one is a wannabe online daily, but the reporter/editor who does this is in some deep pockets and often fails to check with all sources before publishing. She also writes very editorially, not biased at all, right?
meanwhile our local unemployment rate is double the state avg. and the city is going bankrupt over a redevelopment project they went ahead with despite the lack of funding and public suport. now we have a HOLE in the ground 6 blocks long... and nobody can pay to fix it.

such is life in the 21st century...