Who killed The Rocky Mountain News? TIME magazine says it was "the suits". In a story online they quote now unemployed sportswriter Dave Krigeler: "I still don't get how a newspaper with 200,000 paying subscribers and hundreds of thousands more readers on the Web cannot make a go of it ... 'Not our fault,' the suits say. '[It's the] business model's fault.' So who came up with the business model?" The suits.
This would be as good a time as ever to ask yourself: does my local paper have that many subscribers and online readers? Which sizable Alabama city will become the first without a single daily paper? The days of the two newspaper city in Alabama are long gone...I believe it was the Birmingham Post-Herald that was the last to die. And now the survivors are endangered.
[UPDATE: NY Times story on 3/12/09 addresses that very possibility. The city with Zero daily newspapers.]
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Radio is also have a tough time paying the bills, but some folks in Miami apparently found one radio format that was working pretty well. They were using their frequency to teach about drug dealing, as well as advertising for drug dealers. One small problem, apparently they didn't have an FCC license, so the Commission and sheriff's deputies pounced and shut them down on Friday.
Can you say "Big Business"?
ReplyDeleteAmerican newspapers are multinational, stock-trading publishing enterprises whose allegiances are to shareholders, Chief Executives and Board(s) of Directors.
In no wise are they beholden to the citizens of the communities where they reside and purport to serve. They do NOT operate in the public interest.
Seeing that, there's no love lost for them should they eventually close their doors.
Yet why aren't THEY begging for taxpayer-funded bailouts?
It's a fairly simple concept... REALLY!
Newspapers sell papers which are promoted throughout the community because of the issues which they cover, and the quality of writing. Their income is supplemented with advertising revenues.
In recent years newspapers have become more oriented towards selling advertising. As well, the quality of writers and writing has significantly declined, and the average newspaper is written at 4th grade level or lower. What an utter and absolute insult!
It's no wonder people don't want to read or subscribe to such drivel.
Would the news gathering organizations take their jobs seriously (as you did at APTV on For The Record) then the people would look upon them quite differently, and would in fact, prefer and specifically turn to them for information.
And the adage "if it bleeds, it leads" should be abandoned, because there are much more news worthy stories that go unpublished or unwritten. I am not suggesting completely abandoning the reporting of "bad" news, but rather an acknowledgment that "good" news exists and has been largely ignored. It is well known and scientifically documented that steady diet of negativity in anyone's life DOES have adverse effect.
What's the long and short of it all?
The unsuccessful models along with their incompetent executives are (thankfully) dying. The truly strong and high quality news gathering organizations and writers will continue to win Pulitzers.
Again, no love lost for Big Business's failures.