Um, I should probably have said that it's incumbent on us to make newspapers something essential for people to read. The convincing is an important, but ultimately secondary part of that.
Mike Berry @ 65 and elsewhere: As one of those kids "full of idealism and romance" currently making peanuts as fresh-out-of-school journalist, I certainly find the idea of the newspaper business collapsing (possible) or contracting (as is happening now) to be quite terrifying.
I did, however, take hope from this little tidbit in the SN&R article: Changes in the marketplace over the past 10 years have reduced these margins, yet still newspapers’ profits last year averaged 19.3 percent--more than twice the average for the Fortune 500. I also take hope from the fact that, even though print circulation is down, newspaper readership overall has, I believe, shown some small gains. (I can't find a good link for this, but this article does claim an overall readership increase of 15 percent for 25-34 year olds.)
So newspapers are in trouble, yes, but they nail hasn't been driven into the coffin yet. Keeping them alive, though, will take some inventive thinking from both the business people and the journalists.
I certainly agree with everyone here that we aren't owed a living. It's incumbent on us to convince people that newspapers are something they should be, nay, need to be reading.
Also, a delighted yes to this: There is obviously no point in bitching and moaning when one has sided with the milkmen, telegraph operators and silent film stars.
Mitch Wagner @ 67: I find in discussions of this kind that daily newspaper journalists start from the assumption that newspapers are doing a great job.
I know some journalists who make that assumption, but many do not. I certainly don't believe that most newspapers are doing a great job, or even a particularly good one. (Perhaps predictably, I'm also wary of blanket statements about the job that all newspapers and all journalists are doing, because I am a unique and special snowflake, yes I am.)
Bill Humphries @ 37: I really like the idea of that headline.
Longtime dicatator dead (for real this time)
But hey! Health care and literacy!
By The American Press
David Levine @ 25: I don't claim to fathom Marvel's corporate logic, nor do I think that old Spider-Man reprints (or superhero stuff in general) are the best way to increase interest in comics.
But the Ditko/Lee Spider-Man issues certainly aren't worthless; they're a heavy influence on the Sam Raimi films, for example, and one of the few superhero works to make the Comics Journal's Top 100 English Comics of the 20th Century. See Douglas Wolk's article in Salon for a concise, thoughtful response to Ditko's work.
Wow, and I'm still slightly stunned by their firing of Robert Christgau.
Memo to the ungainly corporate behemoth now apparently (and deceptively) known as Village Voice Media.
A reasonable strategy: shaking things up to continue to be accessible and relevant.
Not a reasonable strategy: perversely trying to dismantle everything that made the paper worth reading.
Charles Stross @ 10: Thanks for your (very) sobering words.
Josh Jasper @ 43: Does Christopher Hitchens count?
Cynicism, fatalism, anti-Americanism, Gene Roddenberry?
This made me choke. I guess he thinks that if you say it with enough force, logic doesn't matter. Gee, I've never seen that tactic used in political debate before ...
#14: The best thing on TV right now is Veronica Mars anyway.
Yes. I mean, I always hesitate before making such statements, because who the heck has time to follow more than one or two TV shows? But still. Yes.
Greg London: It would be interesting if someone who knows what they're talking about in the publishing industry (Patrick/Teresa/Bueller?) could write a 80-100 word paragraph that could be spoon fed to reporters when said reporters feel obliged to make comments on the state of the industry as a whole.
I like this idea, but I'd prefer if someone could just convince those reporters that making such broad statements about the "state of the industry" is pretty problematic, or at least a lot more complicated than they make it sound, and shouldn't just be tossed off with a boilerplate paragraph.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2007 | 1 |
| 2006 | 9 |
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