CBC Radio Podcast: Ideas, August 31
I’m a big fan of David Simon, both for The Corner and The Wire and for his outspoken criticisms of the newspaper industry. ?I think he does well to push the demise of newspapers backwards beyond the rise of CraigsList and towards the business practices of the papers themselves. ?This podcast doesn’t follow the same line that Simon does, but it does present a compelling alternative take on changes in newspapers in the last hundred years, claiming that the fatal shift in business practices happened much earlier than the big mergers of the twentieth centuries. ?It’s worth a listen, and the Ideas Podcast in general is a good one for thinking folks.
Just wanted to comment on this. I think the speaker was spot on, particularly the point about being interesting. I heard a report from a newspaper in some town. They said something to the effect of putting the onus on the readers. Something like “We’ll just have to see if the people are willing to pay for something important”. That wasn’t the exact quote. It was far more accusatory and pointed than that. All I could think of while hearing him was it would depend on if they can provide something worth paying for.
So not only is the industry (not necessarily journalists, but certainly the industry) suffering from lack of focus on who is important (readers or advertisers) but also this sense of entitlement, similar to artists.
Joe
I can see that point, though I also tend to be wary of the Libertarian, “If somebody buys it, it must be good, and if not, not” sort of attitude towards life. I know well the stereotype of the Ivory Tower academic sneering down on the Jonas Brothers (or whatever kids are downloading at a dollar a pop these days), and there are excesses, but I also think there’s something to be said for the Epicurean teaching that the desires can be cultivated to seek out better things.
Yeah, I stopped short of tempering my post with the balance. The level headed and responsible artists, journalists, and business people aren’t the ones needing the corrective. You certainly point out the gully on the other side of the road with “the Libertarian, ‘If somebody buys it, it must be good, and if not, not’ sort of attitude towards life.”
But what I think the speaker points out is similar in nature to the monetized Modern art movement that is still largely empowered today. There are probably few in my discipline who would make the connection, which is basically if you keep disrespecting or treating with contempt the viewers (or readers or consumers) of your work, don’t be surprised when they turn on you or worse simply turn their backs on you to show you that you don’t matter as much as you think you do. (Well, not YOU. You matter, at least to me.) And basically that is what the newspaper industry has done to the readers.
I was actually just thinking the other day about this notion of “fair and balanced”, and not just as the Fox News mantra, but as an unspoken oath of journalists. Why not just be open and upfront with one’s predispositions? Put it out there for people to see and decide on their own terms if they wish to give it merit or not. Risk being honest. Surely one would find enough like minded people to build a niche following.
Joe
I agree with Joe Futral when he points out the strategy of accusations
by the publishers as remarkable and noteworthy.
The newspaper people are indeed pretty cheeky.
For instance many newspapers (no different than the other media)
were incredibly greedy in their pricing strategies for advertising.
Consider for instance this article from 2004 going into detail
in the case of two CO papers. (One of them went bust, eventually,
and not surprisingly, when one knows their pricing strategy.)
Daily blues: Ad rates up, circulation down
http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2004/11/08/story4.html