Greetings, all. The week is barely two days old, and all is hideous for American journalism. Forty years ago, 36 out of every 100 Americans bought a daily paper. Today, it's 18. It's a relief when circulation drops only by the low single digits. Yes, yes, the death of newspapers has been a long time coming, and it's inevitable. I do plead guilty to living in total denial throughout 26 years in the business. And it's not like I couldn't see what was coming: Working for UPI in the 1980s, I saw all the same stuff: We could not hold onto our "clients." They told UPI that they didn't a second American wire service; they could take AP or, in a pinch, Reuter. They watched UPI sink and drown without a backward glance. Now, it's those very "clients" who now writhe and suffer through daily agonies as readers say: We have the Internet. What's your name again? ...
So. Why am I still in it? Because. Because it matters. Because someone's got to be paying attention. Because our survival as a species depends on it. And because, when it's all done, I really do want to leave the world a better place by simply telling the world its stories. And that's what I'm talking about here, in my little corner of the cyber-verse ... stories. And what they mean. And the reasons they matter.
2 comments:
If I’m not mistaken the FCC abandoned the fairness doctrine because, with cable, viewers could sample a variety of perspectives on a story on different stations (we know how that worked out). Now the FCC (or at least the guy Trump appointed to lead it) relaxes regulations about corporations owning multiple outlets in any given market because these days viewers can get a variety of perspectives via the internet. (I’m sure he knows this is not how it’s gonna go down, but faith in the righteousness of laissez-faire economics trumps all other considerations)).
btw i liked what you wrote about Helen. The conspiracy angle doesn't fly imho but when commentators like Alex Jones or Tucker Carlson get a free pass viz. their dubious info, while even the mildest critique of Isreali policy is met with a tsunami of rebarbative blowback... well, i hate to use the term "virtue signalling" because it is mostly used to dismiss truly virtuous commentary, but...something like that.
Post a Comment