With trust in the media at an all-time low, Gannett, the country’s most influential newspaper chain, now has to contend with a large number of its staff walking out of various offices.
I think a false assumption exists in the minds of people in the struggling newspaper industry about it’s falling numbers. The news “going digital” argument certainly was a factor. A lot of readers liked the idea of getting news 24/7 and not waiting for the paper to arrive. But local reporting was something readers still wanted and the local publications got on board creating their own E-editions of the paper and constantly updated news pages. It seemed like a no-brainer move that appeared to be cheaper than distributing hard copies. Subscribers have the option of either or both. My local paper and accompanying website are valuable resources to local stories that interest me. The rest of the national news via the Times and WaPo could be easily obtained through a million other places on the web. The industry’s move away from local news was a huge mistake.
That said, many local newspapers self sabotaged by following the wave of a transition from straightforward reporting of facts to sliding a political slant into stories that was both unnecessary and unwelcomed. The local newsrooms seem to be filled with writers all of a same political stripe determined on getting a message out rather than letting us discern and come to our own conclusions. It wasn’t that long ago that I could read our local news and have no idea what side of politics the writer was on. Those days are gone. Even the sports page leaves no mystery of its affiliation. Journalists now have their preferred pronouns-ish outlook on news reporting that implies a lack of intellect to those who may disagree.
The NY Times and WaPo have editorial sections that have now grown into nearly the entire newspaper. This trend trickled down to the locals. It was a mistake. The same goes for Cable and network news with falling viewership and trust.
I still subscribe to the online addition of our local paper, mainly because my wife likes the non-news sections and even she has complained often of the virtue signaling sprinkled all over the local stories.
Like Hillary Clinton who refuses to look in the mirror for the reason Trump was elected, the journalism industry needs to engage in some introspection. I don’t see that happening anytime soon though. They can’t blame it on Russia.
The sooner all of these corrupt institutions go belly-up, the better. "Journalists" striking is hilarious to me. They've made their bed.
I think a false assumption exists in the minds of people in the struggling newspaper industry about it’s falling numbers. The news “going digital” argument certainly was a factor. A lot of readers liked the idea of getting news 24/7 and not waiting for the paper to arrive. But local reporting was something readers still wanted and the local publications got on board creating their own E-editions of the paper and constantly updated news pages. It seemed like a no-brainer move that appeared to be cheaper than distributing hard copies. Subscribers have the option of either or both. My local paper and accompanying website are valuable resources to local stories that interest me. The rest of the national news via the Times and WaPo could be easily obtained through a million other places on the web. The industry’s move away from local news was a huge mistake.
That said, many local newspapers self sabotaged by following the wave of a transition from straightforward reporting of facts to sliding a political slant into stories that was both unnecessary and unwelcomed. The local newsrooms seem to be filled with writers all of a same political stripe determined on getting a message out rather than letting us discern and come to our own conclusions. It wasn’t that long ago that I could read our local news and have no idea what side of politics the writer was on. Those days are gone. Even the sports page leaves no mystery of its affiliation. Journalists now have their preferred pronouns-ish outlook on news reporting that implies a lack of intellect to those who may disagree.
The NY Times and WaPo have editorial sections that have now grown into nearly the entire newspaper. This trend trickled down to the locals. It was a mistake. The same goes for Cable and network news with falling viewership and trust.
I still subscribe to the online addition of our local paper, mainly because my wife likes the non-news sections and even she has complained often of the virtue signaling sprinkled all over the local stories.
Like Hillary Clinton who refuses to look in the mirror for the reason Trump was elected, the journalism industry needs to engage in some introspection. I don’t see that happening anytime soon though. They can’t blame it on Russia.
I was listening to a podcast today and one of the participants said that with AI you could run a local newspaper with one person