12-04-2008, 01:35 PM
I honestly think that some industries should not be in the public marketplace, and that one of those industries is the news business, which has completely changed since most of its outlets became publicly traded. The pressure for rising profits quarter after quarter after quarter has forced the business and marketing heads under the newsroom door.
Editors and producers are pressured to produce an ever increasing audience for the pages or program while producing the product, which is the news, cheaper and cheaper. The result is not good news, in all senses of that word.
The best papers in the country--the New York Times and the Washington Post--are privately held. Two of the finest papers in the nation--the Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun--have become travesties under the management of the publicly traded Tribune Company. There are so many "cooperative projects" at both papers it's hard to tell whether a story is advertising driven or not. I have begun to assume, in the case of the Sun, that it is usually advertising-driven.
Worse still, readership doesn't seem to care if stories on the news pages are paid for by advertisers, as long as the paper leans toward their particular political bent, and so papers and stations begin to fit a political niche instead of concentrating on reporting the news. So you have networks and papers identified principally by their political bent, even if they don't possess one--"MSM" means "lefty" and "Fox" or "Faux" means righty--and most people who blog are pretty frankly partisan.
Maybe we have no need anymore of the traditional American methods of newsgathering. Maybe the future is in polarization and smaller outlets that frankly support various political causes. Perhaps, if the people no longer trust news gathered honestly and professionally, it's time to drop or lower professional standards. I disagree with that but I could be wrong about it.
I am quite sure that if people respond to this statement they will say "Oh, right, as if the news is currently gathered honestly and professionally," or something like that, and that's a symptom of the malaise. One of the jobs of a newsie is to present information that various members of the public don't want to know. It's very difficult to make that palatable.
Editors and producers are pressured to produce an ever increasing audience for the pages or program while producing the product, which is the news, cheaper and cheaper. The result is not good news, in all senses of that word.
The best papers in the country--the New York Times and the Washington Post--are privately held. Two of the finest papers in the nation--the Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun--have become travesties under the management of the publicly traded Tribune Company. There are so many "cooperative projects" at both papers it's hard to tell whether a story is advertising driven or not. I have begun to assume, in the case of the Sun, that it is usually advertising-driven.
Worse still, readership doesn't seem to care if stories on the news pages are paid for by advertisers, as long as the paper leans toward their particular political bent, and so papers and stations begin to fit a political niche instead of concentrating on reporting the news. So you have networks and papers identified principally by their political bent, even if they don't possess one--"MSM" means "lefty" and "Fox" or "Faux" means righty--and most people who blog are pretty frankly partisan.
Maybe we have no need anymore of the traditional American methods of newsgathering. Maybe the future is in polarization and smaller outlets that frankly support various political causes. Perhaps, if the people no longer trust news gathered honestly and professionally, it's time to drop or lower professional standards. I disagree with that but I could be wrong about it.
I am quite sure that if people respond to this statement they will say "Oh, right, as if the news is currently gathered honestly and professionally," or something like that, and that's a symptom of the malaise. One of the jobs of a newsie is to present information that various members of the public don't want to know. It's very difficult to make that palatable.