bit by bit...we're winning

[windshieldbug]

newspapers now no longer are truthful, all mosty opionated, and not fact based

" ... and the internet is OBVIOUSLY fact" rejoined the overweight 50something in his underwear posting as the 20ish blushing babe

[Tubaryan12]

Years ago, I stopped subscribing to the typically idiotic local paper...You know, the one just like yours that always puts the same predictable spin on every story...

Well, not only have they alienated the vast majority of subscribers (with hangers-on solely for the sake of grocery ads and to read their mindless norts spews), but their own attitudes have finally contributed to enough illiteracy to make their product obsolete to those who might agree with their pabulum.

In the last two years, the local _ _ _ _-wipe has resorted to offering rates to new subscribers at more than 50% off the "regular" rates (never daring to raise them thereafter) and cold-calling houses begging folks (who, twenty years ago would have subscribed to the paper automatically) to take this deal. Further, they've fired all of their older/wiser higher-paid columnists and hired a bunch of (albeit properly indoctrinated) greenhorns fresh outta kollij.

bloke "Nope. You can't blame their failure to retain any sort of news market share (much less their former monopoly) completely on 'The Internet'. "

Though this may be true in some cases, TV and it's 24 hour news channels are putting the final nail in the newspaper coffin. I stopped getting the paper not because I didn't agree with the editorial slant, but because I see no reason to pay good money to buy old news. The only thing you can't find out the night before that's in the morning paper is the next day's comic strip. Even papers like the Wall Street Journal are down. The internet is just helping to shovel the dirt back into the grave.

[Rick Denney]

The Washington Post has a good editorial section, usually with a good range of articles that plow the road between the political poles, and a few token conservatives to keep me interested. But the standard of writing (on the Opinion page, at least) is higher than most.

But I buy the Sunday Post strictly to read the Op-Ed page. And I pickup the (free) copy of Leesburg Today (our local suburban weekly) to keep up with local politics, which is not covered by any other area media. I'm done with both by the time I've finished my Starbucks.

I don't read the newspaper for news, and I haven't in decades. The reason is not because of the slant, which I can usually see through, but because the writing is aimed at 8th-graders (literally) and it's boring. I'd much rather read a good book if I have time to read.

I can update myself sufficiently on current events in the car on the way to work, where reading a newspaper is not recommended. I get everything from NPR to Fox News, so I can choose whichever one I'm in the mood to decode at the moment.

Rick "who has limited time to read and doesn't want to waste it on news" Denney

[MaryAnn]

Well, the last post is almost a week old, but anyone care to comment about corporate socialism?

MA

[Lew]

This has nothing to do with editorial content and everything to do with the ubiquity of alternative sources of information, primarily the internet. TV and radio didn't kill newspapers, but the internet will (at least significantly reduce total circulation since I think that newspapers will be around for a long time before finally dying). It would be interesting to track the circulation of online versions of these papers. That would be a better indicator if content or the availability of substitutes is the issue .

Newspaper Circulation Drops 2.6%
On Competition From Web Sites

Associated Press
May 8, 2006 12:00 p.m.

NEW YORK -- Newspaper circulation fell 2.6% in the six-month period ending in March, according to data released Monday, as the industry continued to struggle with competition from other media outlets and the Internet.

The decline in average paid weekday circulation was about the same as the previous time newspapers reported six-month circulation figures, for the period ending last September, according to the Newspaper Association of America, a trade group.

The NAA reported that average paid circulation at Sunday newspapers fell 3.1% versus the same period a year ago, also a comparable decline with the last time circulation figures were reported.

Despite the declines in paid copies, the industry group reported Monday that newspaper-run Web sites had an 8% increase in viewers in the first quarter. The data from Nielsen/NetRatings found that newspaper Web sites averaged 56 million users in the period, or 37% of all online users in the period, the NAA said.

EXTRA! EXTRA!


NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION
USA Today 2,272,815
The Wall Street Journal 2,049,786
The New York Times 1,142,464
Los Angeles Times 851,832
The Washington Post 724,242
New York Daily News 708,477
New York Post 673,379
Chicago Tribune 579,079
The Boston Globe 397,288
Gannett Co.'s USA Today remained the top-selling newspaper with 2,272,815 copies, up 0.09% from the same period a year ago; while The Wall Street Journal, published by Dow Jones & Co., was second with 2,049,786, down 1%.

Several top newspapers reported significant declines in the period, including Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times, down 5.4% at 851,832; the Washington Post, down 3.7% at 724,242; the New York Daily News, also down 3.7% at 708,477. News Corp.'s New York Post slipped 0.7% to 673,379.

The largest slump at a major daily came at the San Francisco Chronicle, where average paid weekday circulation fell 15.6% to 398,246 as the newspaper continued to cut back on less desirable circulation such as copies paid for by advertisers and then distributed for free.

Patricia Hoyt, a spokeswoman for the Chronicle, said the cutbacks began at the beginning of last year and involved copies that "advertisers didn't value, were quite costly and essentially had no impact on our readership." The Chronicle, which is owned by Hearst Corp., reported a similar decline in paid circulation for the previous six-month reporting period.

Several other large newspapers also reported declines, including the Boston Globe, down 8.5% to 397,288, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, down 6.7% to 365,011. The Globe is owned by The New York Times Co. and the Journal-Constitution by Cox Enterprises Inc.

Besides USA Today, a handful of other major newspapers reported modest circulation gains in the period: The New York Times, up 0.5% at 1,142,464; Tribune Co.'s Chicago Tribune, up 0.9% at 579,079; and the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., up 0.9% at 398,329. The Star-Ledger is owned by Advance Publications Inc.

[ArnoldGottlieb]

This has nothing to do with editorial content...

hmm...

It's effecting movie attendance, and movies don't even include the Oprah/Today Show-broadcasted "editorials".

Blokebaby,
2 things:
1) if you're going to mention Oprah/Today Show-broadcasted "editorials" then please give eqaul time to Fox "News"/Limbaugh editorials.
2) I wouldn't be surprised if movie attendance is suffering due to; cable tv, quick turn around of movies from screen to dvd, the internet, or kids with glazed over eyes texting each other.

Or more likely, we are all too old to understand what kids are doing with their entertainment dollars. Movies, TV, and recordings are sold to under 34's. While movies might be down, entertainment is not. People are spending money on all sorts of entertainment, just not like they spent it in the "old days".

Peace.
ASG

[Tubaryan12]

2) I wouldn't be surprised if movie attendance is suffering due to; cable tv, quick turn around of movies from screen to dvd, the internet, or kids with glazed over eyes texting each other.

Or more likely, we are all too old to understand what kids are doing with their entertainment dollars.

Don't forget online gaming:

http://news.com.com/Study+Online-game+r ... 66062.html

$353 million in subscription revenue alone. That's not even figuring the cost of the games and the game systems.

[Chuck(G)]

About the only thing I read in the paper anymore is the comics. The rest makes me angry--and then my oatmeal doesn't taste so good anymore.

Take this morning--a headline trumpeting "Price of gold is set to surpass 1980 high". While I've got some money tied up in gold and am delighted with its performance, I had to mutter "Idiots!" under my breath. Why? Well we've had a bunch of inflation since 1980 and $700 gold ain't what it used to be:

http://oregonstate.edu/Dept/pol_sci/fac/sahr/goldp.htm

The same goes for the over-apologiists for the price of gasoline, except in the opposite direction. They say "Oh, but gas is still cheap if you take into account inflation. Gas cost a whole lot more in real dollars in 1980."

Well, no it didnt:

http://oregonstate.edu/Dept/pol_sci/fac/sahr/gasol.htm

Idiots. Can't they even learn to check their facts?

[LoyalTubist]

What you say is true about newspapers not being factual has been true for a long time. One of the things that changed newspapers was radio. Until World War II, most news could wait. Edward R. Murrow was probably the first correspondent who went overseas to tell Americans what was happening in the comfort of their living rooms. He told about life in London right after the U.K. declared war on Germany, from the streets of London. Often airraid sirens could be heard. It made news become real.

With what CBS, NBC, and Mutual (ABC wouldn't be around until 1942, then it wouldn't be called that until 1945) were doing with the news completely changed what newspapers were to do. They were to provide a written record of things that happened. They were also to provide reminders for events that would be happening. Unfortunately, since the end of World War II newspapers have been too busy making news to report it.

Even the electronic media has become sensational. Maybe even that goes back to its roots, at least here in California. In 1947, Paramount Pictures in Hollywood was given a provisional license to operate a commercial TV station. It had been running W6XYZ, channel 4, which became KTLA, channel 5, in January of that year. Two years after they went on the air, there came word that a little girl, named Kathy Fiscus, fell down a well in San Marino, about 10 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The station stopped everything it was doing to show the rescue of the little girl. The rescue never happened. Little Kathy died.

Here is a story written six years ago by the San Marino Rotary Club:

San Marino is one of California’s prettier residential towns, noted for its stately homes, shady yards, the magnificent Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanic Gardens – and of course home to an active group of Rotarians. In April 1949, San Marino was the center of an intense effort to rescue a sweet little three year old girl who had fallen down a forgotten well. Two young reporters from Los Angeles’ new and enterprising ‘television Los Angeles,’ KTLA, brought experimental mobile equipment to San Marino and covered the breaking story. This was the first live telecast of a news event outside a studio.

All that weekend, Southern California watched something ‘live’ – and the nation came together through primitive relays. Clustered around the scant television sets, a growing community of viewers watched on-the-scene reporting. A united people heard from reporters Stan Chambers and Bill Welsh, prayed with the rescue workers, and grieved with San Marino and the Fiscus family when the rescue failed and Kathy’s body was brought from the well about six p.m. on Sunday, April 11, 1949.

Decades later, mention of ‘San Marino’ to strangers in other states and nations still brings occasional recall of the rescue attempts from memories of those astounded viewers. The ‘global village’ concept of today’s instant news began with KTLA’s home-built remote broadcast unit set up that weekend in San Marino.

The well’s location is now the upper sports field of San Marino High School, entered from Robles Avenue 1½ blocks east of Sierra Madre Blvd., north of Huntington Drive and two miles south of the 210 Freeway.

Maybe we, as human beings, have never changed. As Pogo said, "We have met the enemy and the enemy is us!"



Incidentally, Stan Chambers, mentioned in the above story, is still an employee of KTLA. He has been with the station for 58 years now!

http://ktla.trb.com/news/local/newsstaf ... ewsstaff-1

Bill Welsh would change stations in 1951 and he died in 2000.

[ThomasDodd]

Not much has changed with the papers either.

Check this book out sometime and see just how partisan, vindictive, and petty the papers were 300+ years ago.

[ThomasDodd]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 66,00.html

[url]http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 74,00.html[/ur]

[ThomasDodd]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 66,00.html

[url]http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 74,00.html[/ur]