Comments on: Whither print media?

By: david foster

david foster — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:28:18 +0000

“for newspapers to thrive in the political era”…should have been “to thrive in the present era”

By: david foster

david foster — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:25:40 +0000

Businesses that are successful at one stage of a technology are rarely those that are successful at the next. The vacuum-tube manufacturers weren’t the big winners in sold-state electronics; the big integrated steel companies weren’t the ones who profited from mini-mills; the steam locomotive manufacturers didn’t dominate the diesel space. Even absent political bias, it would have taken brilliant management for newspapers to thrive in the political era–and there’s not much sign of brilliant management in this industry. The political bias has made it much, much worse, and a case can be made that those newspapers which are public corporations have violated their fiduciary responsibility to shareholders by over-promoting the personal political belies of management at the expense of the business.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:41:12 +0000

I stopped getting the LA Times years ago because of the bias. Their blatant hit job against Schwarzenegger in the 2003 recall election was the last straw.

I do miss getting a paper, however. Reading the news over the Internet just doesn’t feel “right” in the same way that flipping through the pages over a cup of coffee does on a Sunday morning.

In the end, however, I think newspapers are like dinosaurs: doomed. Their declining circulation leads to loss of ad revenue, which leads to changes that drive more readers away … it’s a death spiral.

By: steveegg

steveegg — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:37:00 +0000

Thanks; the post is now corrected.

The situation is pretty much the same with my local paper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, though they do have a couple of token not-in-the-tank types.

By: liberte

liberte — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:39:46 +0000

Great post Steveegg – I wish I could support the Raleigh N&O but it’s so blatantly pro-Obama, pro-Democrat status quo I can’t bring myself to ever subscribe again.

One small item – the title should be “Whither” (like whether etc.), not “wither” – the latter makes me think of withers of a horse.