Black & White & Red All Over
(Media • Business)
The Fourth Estate will survive in some form, as newspapers’ short-sighted owners seem to have suddenly returned from vacation to find that someone invented the Internet.
But, probably for a long while, the public will lose in the transition, as many of the best and most experienced reporters and editors saw this train coming long ago and jumped off the tracks. And now, so many of the rest are in the process of becoming “cost-saving measures” that, once the conversion to the web is complete, almost no one will be left to produce original local news articles. Of course I hope my prediction is wrong, but I foresee “local news” web sites chock full of homogeneous, generic wire-service content.
Here’s evidence from just this month alone:
→ Tucson Citizen – Gannet announces paper will close if no buyer is found by March 21.
→ Seattle Post-Intelligencer – Hearst Corp. will try to sell it within 60 days, otherwise will move to web only with major staff reductions, or close it.
→ Boston Globe – Announces 50 newsroom layoffs, voluntary buyouts.
→ San Diego Union-Tribune – Newsroom layoffs, salary reduction, match of 401K suspended, furlough days without pay, reduced or eliminated health benefits.
→ San Antonio Express-News – Newsroom wage freeze, voluntary hours reduction or leave of absence, hiring freeze, news hole reduction, no classified section Mondays or Tuesdays, Wednesday Taste section jointly produced with Houston Chronicle.
→ Tulsa World – Layoffs of 26 newsroom and editorial staffers.
What a great day for the twin titans of graft and corruption, as the Watchdog Serving as the Eyes and Ears of the People is tied and blindfolded.
→ B.Dunn, Jan 20, 2009, 05 19 am
