Bad News on the Door Step: Not Where we get the News Anymore

The line from Don McLean’s classic song American Pie is a little dated since the bad news is now given to us in a nightly dose on the TV news shows. He also said “But February made me shiver, with every paper I’d deliver. February is here and the shivers this year are not all caused by the weather

I don’t think that kids deliver papers anymore. The evening paper was what I delivered as a twelve year old and those evening papers are long gone. As a matter of fact I’m not sure there will be many papers left publishing to deliver in the near future. The Rocky Mountain News is the latest paper seemingly on it last legs and about to fold. Another line from a song fits the moment. “Times are a changing “is a line that doesn’t even seem to be dated since times seem always to be “a changin”. The message Bob Dylan sang about years ago was: “If your time to you. Is worth savin’ Then you better start swimmin’ Or you’ll sink like a stone. For the times they are a-changin’.” The owners of the newspapers didn’t get that news when the Internet was emerging as one of the greatest forces for change in our lives.

They simply didn’t get it. Pride and confidence in their untouchable position of importance in our society were the barriers to the changes they might have made to recognize the new opportunities in communication that were moving into their space.

To meet the financial challenge the newspapers seem to forget what they were about, which was news! To save money they started cutting the editorial staffs and using the AP for much of their content. The classifieds produced tons of money and that became the primary reason for their existence. Few in the business could even conceive of a Google or Craig’s list and if they did would never have believed they would be a threat.

For most of my life I was a big time newspaper reader. When still gainfully employed there were four things waiting for me on my desk every morning. They were the NY Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer and a carafe of coffee. Forty five minutes were spent making sure I had read the news. I noted those Items that deserved attention and during the day would give them some additional time. The newspapers were an important part of my life. I’m sorry to say that they no longer are that important. The only newspaper I read somewhat often is the Delaware County Daily Times. I read it “on line” to keep track of what is happening in my old home area now that I live thousands of miles west of there. They still do a good job with Philly sports and neighborhood events. They are hanging on because they have a talented editorial and management staff which recognizes that with all the industry problems, reporting the news is still important. I do buy the NY Times occasionally to try to maintain my crossword skills. That is the one part of that newspaper that is still excellent.

The NY Times and Washington Post have become promoters of a political agenda in areas that are purportedly news articles. Papers that were once known for their research and accuracy are now filled with information that is slanted and inadequately researched. There was a time that these once great newspapers understood that opinion belonged on the editorial and op-ed pages.

There is an obvious push by some newspapers to pass the current stimulus legislation before a calm review can take place for the purpose of getting it right. Mike Huckabee commented on his show that when he was governor there was never a piece of legislation that benefited from being rushed for passage. He indicated that when there was a rush there was almost always a hidden agenda. There is no doubt that a rush to approval of the stimulus legislation is taking place and some shabby reporting is promoting the rush. Fortunately on the Internet people like Drudge are pressing for accuracy with the reporting that is taking place on the Internet.

An example of the changing news reporting was when the Continental plane went down in the Denver Airport. One of the passengers had an Internet capable cell phone and a Twitter account. While exiting, using Twitter, he notified his friends that he had just crashed. The news was flashed from person to person by Twitter and thousands of people knew of the crash before the cell phone user was out of the plane and the fire department even knew there was a crash. Newspapers are facing more than Google and Craig’s list. The advancing technology related to the Internet is the now expanded threat to their existence

The Beetles sang” I heard the news today Oh boy” but unlike the Don Mclean line in “American Pie” It was not on my doorstep. It is popping up on the corner of the screen while I am typing this post.