As a newspaper junkie, and as one who believes that the Free Press is an essential pillar of a democracy, El Somnambulo is deeply concerned with the dire situation currently facing the industry. While ‘Bulo has been critical of the News-Journal and other media outlets, one has but to only look at how he and others here link to essential stories from…newspapers. Other than Talking Points Memo and a few admirable other sources of original content, the Blogoverse is ill-equipped to take over the newsgathering function from the traditional media.
Here is a clip of Editor & Publisher editor Greg Mitchell discussing the problem and possible fixes on the Rachel Maddow Show.
Please take a look and come back with your thoughts on the plight of newspapers. Can or should they survive? Are there business models which might enable them to survive, such as ‘pay to play’ (no, not that kind, but a modest fee to read articles)?
In the case of the News-Journal, can everyone agree that they need to completely revamp their website? It is one of the least user-friendly newspaper websites out there and one of the most difficult to navigate.
And, is there agreement that newsroom cuts merely hasten the snowball-rolling-downhill effect? Cutting news and editorial staff merely ensures that there will be even less worth reading in the paper or online.
Anyway, this is not designed to be a diss the News-Journal thread, but rather to engender serious discussion on the role of newspapers in a democracy and to identify ways to ensure their viability. What the thread eventually turns into (if anything) is ultimately up to you.