RIP--Some of the nation's great newspapers!!

[12voltman59]

On Friday last, it was announced that the Rocky Mountain News, based in Denver, Colorado ceased publication.

This once great newspaper is but one of many of America's great newspapers that either has or is in danger of going out of business--earlier last week---it was announced that if either new financing or a buyer or not found and soon--the San Francisco Chronicle will go out of business leaving one of the nation's largest cities without a daily newspaper!!!

The list of newspapers that are in danger of going away seems to grow by the week.

I find it a sad state of affairs that so many newspapers are in danger of going down---this bodes ill for democracy since newspapers have long served as the last bastion of media outlets still doing in-depth, investigative reporting since many local television news outlets became nothing more than headline new sources, only doing the type of news of "if it bleeds--it leads!"

Most local television stations only do little, tidbit stories featuring the day's latest shootings, stabbings, rapes, fires, and car crashes--they all of course have their "Storm Team" weather reporters and report ad nauseam on a few inches of snow or rain!!

Some say that losing local newspapers is no big deal since "we have so many news sources and choices thanks to the Internet!"

While there are some great internet based news organizations---they are usually only following national politics--but not doing local news and while there are some good bloggers and blogging sites--they tend to rely on "standard" news sources--like newspapers as the basis of what they report and comment upon.

It really a sad day that we have lost some great newspapers and are in danger of losing many more-----it makes you wonder who is going to do the heavy lifting of keeping track of the powers that be----both big government and big business---

The scoundrels are pretty much going to have the run of the place----sad days for sure!!!!

[_Joe_]

Information over saturation.

There's nothing much more you can do, folks when overwhelmed with sources will stick with whats in their face, their fingerstips, and free.

[jem_is_bi]

I am old enough to remember when the local papers in Detroit, MI were good newspapers. But, over the last 10 years they have become very second rate souces of news. Therefore, I seldom read them and very few others read them. So, both are in financial trouble.

[MaybeSayMaybe]

-- It really a sad day that we have lost some great newspapers and are in danger of losing many more-----it makes you wonder who is going to do the heavy lifting of keeping track of the powers that be----both big government and big business---

The scoundrels are pretty much going to have the run of the place----sad days for sure!!!! --

Actually, other people are pointing this out. We already have an ethics crisis in this country - just look at AIG on the tube today. The CEO said the taxpayers are really bailing out all of the AIG counterparties.

That's kind of like a person saying that they have the right to set another forest fire because everybody else's house gets burned down. They got $30B handed to them, with much more to come.

[thinkfree39]

I didn't renew my subscription this year and felt like a traitor. I've been getting the daily paper for 25 years or so. It just doesn't make sense any more with iPhones and Internet everywhere. It got to the point where I picked it up off the driveway and dropped it straight in the trash because I already read everything I have time to read. As sad as it is to see them go it is inevitable.

[curious44]

It's no surprize to me that newspapers are going downhill. Besides the fact that people are turning more to the Internet for information the quality of most big city newspapers is poor and only project a left wing viewpoint in both content and on their editorial pages not only in what they tell you but more importantly, what they don't tell you by ignoring facts that don't fit their agenda. The Milwaukee and Chicago dailies are a joke, reporting very little that interests me or most of my friends. Take the Chicago Tribune for example. Almost every day there is an above the fold, front page picture I refer to as "the victim of the day". It's typically about some gang member who was killed over drugs and the spin is how sorry we should all be. One that makes it every time is if they are lucky enough to get a picture of a group of hysterical adolescent girls in front of their school grieving for one of their peers who met a tragic end.
I know a couple reporters for these "Pulitzer candidates" because they went to school with our kids. Believe me, they weren't at the top of their class and it shows in the writing style of most articles. To me they seem geared for people that barely made it through the Dick & Jane Readers.
I do, however, read almost everything written by John Kass and Stephen Chapman. They are two stars in the local MSM fog.
USA Today gets right to the point and will tell you all the important facts in one column and even though their editorial board leans to the left they will also print an opposing view along with their own.
There is still one daily paper I subscribe to both in print and online, The Wall Street Journal. They never waste space with trivia or sensationalize a story and the quality of writing is a joy to read, like a good book. And if a politician or other person in the news wants to be heard, regardless of their viewpoint, they write a letter or an article for the editorial page of the WSJ.

[jamieknyc]

The poor quality of the product has a great deal to do with it. Even the New York Times has become little more than the personal blog of the Sulzberger family and their hangers-on, and a glorified home decorating and lifestyle magazine for the wealthy.