RE: [Leica] RE: A vanishing act

["B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>]

Actually, Eric, the LA Times guy was the head of one of the big cereal
companies before becoming head of Times Mirror, which of course, in addition
to the LA Times, includes the Hartford Current, Baltimore Sun, Allentown
Call, Stamford Advocate, Greenwich Time...and Newsday. It also included New
York Newsday, but the first thing the SOB did not long after taking over
Times Mirror was shut down New York Newsday, which was inarguably the second
best paper in NY, and arguably the best in terms of its coverage of NYC. At
the same time they did buyouts at Newsday, and have since trimmed staff at
the Baltimore Sun. As you note, he only cares about one thing - the bottom
line.

Unfortunately, this seems to be the story now throughout the media - anyone
who thinks that 60 Minutes would have run Jack Kavorkian's "song of Myself"
five years ago has already forgotten what journalism was and standards were.
The Post-Dispatch may say it wants to become a "quality paper," but it's all
relative. If quality boosts circulation, which boosts ad rates, which boosts
the bottom line, it will be a quality paper. If quality doesn't boost the
bottom line, it won't.

Do I sound cynical? I am. I think that journalism as I knew it for most of
my 23 years at the Wash Post and Newsday is dead and gone. There are still
some papers doing good work on a consistent basis, but on the whole, the top
quality papers are where the mediocre ones were a decade or so ago, and the
mediocre ones are in the toilet. Remember, when the New York Times and
Washington Post chase stories featured in the National Enquirer, we're not
seeing proof that the Enquirer has improved, we're seeing proof that the top
papers are in big trouble.

And if newspapers have gone down hill, there's always television news to
really depress us....Do you realize that there are people out there who
think that 20/20 and Dateline are "news shows," that the Fox network reports
straight "news," and that Deborah Norvile is a "newswoman.."

If things keep going the way we are, its leically (there - I got in
something relevant) that there won't be a news business as we know it in the
next decade or so.

Happy TURKEY day! :-)
B. D.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Eric Welch
> Sent: Thursday, November 26, 1998 9:47 AM
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: Re: [Leica] RE: A vanishing act
>
>
> >LA Times circulation up this year and they are now
> >going to reduce staff by 250.  (did I miss some fine print?)
>
> No, some advertising type became publisher, and his idea is to merge
> editorial and advertising. So if they're doing a story on a
> health, sign up
> the local hospitals and clinics nearby to put ads next to it.
>
> Guess what that story won't say?
>
> Papers go in cycles. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch just made a decision to
> become a quality paper again, with emphasis on photojournalism, so I'm
> told. That will be a change for the better.
> --
>
> Eric Welch
> St. Joseph, MO
> http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch
>
> "History never ends, 'cause it's too busy beginning." -- Bob Geldof
>