The end of the newspaper, which is simply another way of forecasting the end of the intrepid field journalist, may well be nigh. But should this endear us more to the polemical blogger? An assortment of commentary on the subject is available.
An interesting suggestion to arrest the collapse of the news print industry is converting newpapers into non-profit, endowed organisations. That view is put forth in the New York Times by David Swensen and Michael Schmidt.
This is what Eric Alterman has to say in the The Nation about the seemingly terminal affair:
Perhaps it is a mistake to try to save "the newspaper" per se. Given the unavoidable splintering of what once was a "mass" audience for just about all forms of culture and entertainment, the old-fashioned notion of a mass "newspaper" with a sports page, a comics page, a crossword puzzle and a heartwarming story about the winner of a local high school science fair is a predigital phenomenon, however great the devotion to its daily appearance on our doorstep by old farts like yours truly. Ironically, it is the sections of the paper most crucial to informed democratic discourse that are in danger of disappearing. Sports news, entertainment news, health news, fashion, celebrity and style reporting will always be with us in one form or another, because they are such delightful places to advertise.
My own survey, 'A Government without Newspapers', is available at Scoop, March 25, 2009.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
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