The newspaper industry is dying from irrelevance. Nevertheless, the people who work at journalism schools keep mourning the disappearance of these relics of 19th century technology. The latest is Joshua Benton at Harvard. He worked a few years in newspapers, wised up to reporting being a dead end job, and got a gig at Harvard in 2008, first as a Nieman Fellow, then as founder of Nieman Labs, which is a fancy name for sitting around whining about the death of print media.
Don Surber (03/15/23): "But what newspaper broke the SVB story? Signature Bank? Credit Suisse? Newspapers gave no advance warning of the collapse of the banking industry. Car [54] Wall Street Journal, where are you?"
Headline: "Silicon Valley Bank Collapse: Here’s Who Benefited From Their Executive, PAC Donations"*
Really, now. Can't we call these things what they really are --- personal (not bank) FDIC insurance premiums? Pay Chuck Schumer enough cash, and he'll insure all accounts regardless of size. And Janet Yellen will do as she's told. Or else.
And while we're at it, let's dispense with the fiction that SVB was a "bank."
It was a Political Action Committee making "donations" to Political Action Committees.
"Nice try, but Gannett eliminated no jobs. Its former readers did. While Benton blamed the company, he also had to admit that Sunday circulation fell 77% at Gannett’s 9 biggest newspapers between 2018 and 2022. Fewer readers, fewer reporters."
The market - free, or not - WILL win out. Paywalls are pointless, unless it's a columnist whose writing I REALLY want to read. If it's a news story, I can likely find a free account of it elsewhere - and if I can't, in a day or two, there will be one with more details somewhere NOT behind a paywall.
I am a native of Cincinnati, and grew up reading the Cincinnati Enquirer. Now I live in Indianapolis, where the local paper is the Star. Both are now owned by Gannett. Both used to be fairly conservative papers--but are not anymore. I am also a retiree on a fixed income. I am somewhat comfortable, but I can't afford to subscribe to everything. I do subscribe to one online newspaper, Epoch Times; and two Substacks--Don's and Glenn Reynolds' (of Instapundit, which is not paywalled). I get my national news online, and for local news I check the websites of one local radio station and three local TV stations (one each day). None of them are paywalled. I do not bother with the New York Times--somebody who is free online will talk about what they say on anything important.
I have one comment about the guy from Harvard: I graduated from college over 50 years ago, and I learned one important thing during that time that they probably didn't mean to teach me--most college profs haven't really learned anything since they finished grad school! It gets really annoying when you get one who is in his late 70s and all he talks about in class is what was hot topics when he was in his 20s. There are always a few who keep up with what's actually going on, but nowhere near enough. At my college, I didn't even need all the fingers of one hand to count them. As for this Harvard guy--at least he sees the problem...but I sure wouldn't look to him for a solution.
But what newspaper broke the SVB story? Signature Bank? Credit Suisse? Newspapers gave no advance warning of the collapse of the banking industry.
I say:
Actually, the only "News source" that broke the SVB story was MSNBC three weeks ago when their idiot investment strategist said to not only hold on to SVB stock, but to invest in it.
That brings me to my next point. Is anyone really that stupid to even watch MSNBC, CNN or The View. To me, these news stations are all about who can lie the most. It is as if these people who watch this garbage are afraid to hear or read the truth.
Don, I completely agree with your column. Reading yesterday's news tomorrow is worse than washing your feet with your socks on. My concern is that we're losing our history.
I spent seven years researching the history of my little town of less than 3,000 people. Most of the useful information that I found came from a semi-weekly newspaper in our county seat and the weekly newspaper in my hometown. At present, it is easier for me to find something from 1899 than 1999. If newspapers are the first draft of history, who will write that first draft after all have disappeared?
Heather Bresch reeks so badly, not even Wikipedia --- the completely corrupt, character-assassinating Wikipedia --- is willing to ignore what happened:
Thanks, Don. Many rocks to turn over, eh? Another "quality" diversity hire, indeed. Funny how she didn't end up as the WH press secretary. Or SecTrans.
I worked off and on for local Newspapers. Circulation, mainly. My local paper is still around. A three day a week liberal Zombie that is irrelevant. A local online media company does a far better job of reporting fast, fair, no agenda. No paywall for moldy oldies. Just the news. Their ad revenue is far better than the paper which seems to be supported by lib college professors and Dam' little else. Enjoyed the post.
Mar 15, 2023·edited Mar 15, 2023Liked by Don Surber
I have a parrot so the Chicago Trib serves as cage liner after reading. Lately my subscription crept up to $231 for 60 days. I wrote and complained. Got a half price offer of uncertain duration so I'll stay a subscriber for now. The suburban towns once all had tabloid or stitched magazine weekly publications, most owned by Pioneer Press. They were hyper local. Lots of pictures of school musicals, high school sports, kids sledding and raking leaves. Those papers once were a separate subscription and everybody took them. Absorbed by Tribune, then eventually bundled free with the Tribune. These days you can cover city council meetings without actually going. I imagine sports reporting is handled by students. I did sports photography for my local at $3 a printed shot. Kept me in film and chemicals. Smartphones now provide coverage, often virtually live.
Obsolescence, as Surber explains, is inescapable. Still, Medill School at Northwestern has students. As has been said before, those students graduate to an environment where pay is meagre. To make a go of it requires parental subsidy. So newsrooms are increasingly populated with the children of privilege. What reporting there is reflects an insulated perspective and wishful, idealistic thinking.
To get a sense of when newspapers were relevant, find the movie "Teacher's Pet" where Clark Gable is editor of a daily. "This is a business and every column inch a story takes is a column inch that can't be sold to an advertiser." Or words to that effect. The enforced economy saves readers time and spares them the preaching that seems to leach into news articles. Those were better days.
Surber exposing the myth of the local paper breaking stories is spot on. Block Club Chicago was a paper that was formed as a "non-profit" hyper-local news chain a few years back and what happened? A Chicago progressive politician called one of its lesbian founders his "hero". Any reporter called a hero by a politician should look for a new line of work as said reporter is no longer seen as a threat to whatever shenanigans the politician may be doing. To this day, Block Club Chicago puts out progressive puff pieces and has broken zero stories of significance.
My wife insisted on subscribing to our local rag for several years after I started sputtering in rage every time it showed up on my kitchen table. It just sat there lying, you see. I didn’t mind that it was inert, just that it told lots of lies from a far left perspective. Why did she take it? She didn’t read it, she just wanted the weekly sales circulars on Sundays. Those have slimmed down quite a bit, so she searches for sales online now. No more Times-Useless for us. I do miss them for cleaning stuff though.
Don Surber (03/15/23): "But what newspaper broke the SVB story? Signature Bank? Credit Suisse? Newspapers gave no advance warning of the collapse of the banking industry. Car [54] Wall Street Journal, where are you?"
Headline: "Silicon Valley Bank Collapse: Here’s Who Benefited From Their Executive, PAC Donations"*
Really, now. Can't we call these things what they really are --- personal (not bank) FDIC insurance premiums? Pay Chuck Schumer enough cash, and he'll insure all accounts regardless of size. And Janet Yellen will do as she's told. Or else.
And while we're at it, let's dispense with the fiction that SVB was a "bank."
It was a Political Action Committee making "donations" to Political Action Committees.
* https://resistthemainstream.com/heres-who-benefited-from-silicon-valley-bank-executive-pac-donations-before-collapse/?utm_source=newsletter2
"Nice try, but Gannett eliminated no jobs. Its former readers did. While Benton blamed the company, he also had to admit that Sunday circulation fell 77% at Gannett’s 9 biggest newspapers between 2018 and 2022. Fewer readers, fewer reporters."
The market - free, or not - WILL win out. Paywalls are pointless, unless it's a columnist whose writing I REALLY want to read. If it's a news story, I can likely find a free account of it elsewhere - and if I can't, in a day or two, there will be one with more details somewhere NOT behind a paywall.
I am a native of Cincinnati, and grew up reading the Cincinnati Enquirer. Now I live in Indianapolis, where the local paper is the Star. Both are now owned by Gannett. Both used to be fairly conservative papers--but are not anymore. I am also a retiree on a fixed income. I am somewhat comfortable, but I can't afford to subscribe to everything. I do subscribe to one online newspaper, Epoch Times; and two Substacks--Don's and Glenn Reynolds' (of Instapundit, which is not paywalled). I get my national news online, and for local news I check the websites of one local radio station and three local TV stations (one each day). None of them are paywalled. I do not bother with the New York Times--somebody who is free online will talk about what they say on anything important.
I have one comment about the guy from Harvard: I graduated from college over 50 years ago, and I learned one important thing during that time that they probably didn't mean to teach me--most college profs haven't really learned anything since they finished grad school! It gets really annoying when you get one who is in his late 70s and all he talks about in class is what was hot topics when he was in his 20s. There are always a few who keep up with what's actually going on, but nowhere near enough. At my college, I didn't even need all the fingers of one hand to count them. As for this Harvard guy--at least he sees the problem...but I sure wouldn't look to him for a solution.
"What is the best use of a newspaper?" To start my campfire.
This question was as true in 1900 as It is today - why does a publisher publish his newspaper?
Answer: to make a profit.
This article said:
But what newspaper broke the SVB story? Signature Bank? Credit Suisse? Newspapers gave no advance warning of the collapse of the banking industry.
I say:
Actually, the only "News source" that broke the SVB story was MSNBC three weeks ago when their idiot investment strategist said to not only hold on to SVB stock, but to invest in it.
That brings me to my next point. Is anyone really that stupid to even watch MSNBC, CNN or The View. To me, these news stations are all about who can lie the most. It is as if these people who watch this garbage are afraid to hear or read the truth.
Don, I completely agree with your column. Reading yesterday's news tomorrow is worse than washing your feet with your socks on. My concern is that we're losing our history.
I spent seven years researching the history of my little town of less than 3,000 people. Most of the useful information that I found came from a semi-weekly newspaper in our county seat and the weekly newspaper in my hometown. At present, it is easier for me to find something from 1899 than 1999. If newspapers are the first draft of history, who will write that first draft after all have disappeared?
You left out bird-cage liner and fish wrap.
I think paper mâché would’ve been a better poll option than fly swatting, but that’s the teacher in me.
Thank you, Don!
Once again we get the real story from you, Don. Thank you.
The examples you give are interesting, too. I read about this earlier but your analysis makes it much better. Great!
Heather Bresch reeks so badly, not even Wikipedia --- the completely corrupt, character-assassinating Wikipedia --- is willing to ignore what happened:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Bresch
Thanks, Don. Many rocks to turn over, eh? Another "quality" diversity hire, indeed. Funny how she didn't end up as the WH press secretary. Or SecTrans.
I worked off and on for local Newspapers. Circulation, mainly. My local paper is still around. A three day a week liberal Zombie that is irrelevant. A local online media company does a far better job of reporting fast, fair, no agenda. No paywall for moldy oldies. Just the news. Their ad revenue is far better than the paper which seems to be supported by lib college professors and Dam' little else. Enjoyed the post.
I have a parrot so the Chicago Trib serves as cage liner after reading. Lately my subscription crept up to $231 for 60 days. I wrote and complained. Got a half price offer of uncertain duration so I'll stay a subscriber for now. The suburban towns once all had tabloid or stitched magazine weekly publications, most owned by Pioneer Press. They were hyper local. Lots of pictures of school musicals, high school sports, kids sledding and raking leaves. Those papers once were a separate subscription and everybody took them. Absorbed by Tribune, then eventually bundled free with the Tribune. These days you can cover city council meetings without actually going. I imagine sports reporting is handled by students. I did sports photography for my local at $3 a printed shot. Kept me in film and chemicals. Smartphones now provide coverage, often virtually live.
Obsolescence, as Surber explains, is inescapable. Still, Medill School at Northwestern has students. As has been said before, those students graduate to an environment where pay is meagre. To make a go of it requires parental subsidy. So newsrooms are increasingly populated with the children of privilege. What reporting there is reflects an insulated perspective and wishful, idealistic thinking.
To get a sense of when newspapers were relevant, find the movie "Teacher's Pet" where Clark Gable is editor of a daily. "This is a business and every column inch a story takes is a column inch that can't be sold to an advertiser." Or words to that effect. The enforced economy saves readers time and spares them the preaching that seems to leach into news articles. Those were better days.
Nothing is as old as yesterday's news but Newspapers do make good fish wrap and bird cage liner.
Surber exposing the myth of the local paper breaking stories is spot on. Block Club Chicago was a paper that was formed as a "non-profit" hyper-local news chain a few years back and what happened? A Chicago progressive politician called one of its lesbian founders his "hero". Any reporter called a hero by a politician should look for a new line of work as said reporter is no longer seen as a threat to whatever shenanigans the politician may be doing. To this day, Block Club Chicago puts out progressive puff pieces and has broken zero stories of significance.
My wife insisted on subscribing to our local rag for several years after I started sputtering in rage every time it showed up on my kitchen table. It just sat there lying, you see. I didn’t mind that it was inert, just that it told lots of lies from a far left perspective. Why did she take it? She didn’t read it, she just wanted the weekly sales circulars on Sundays. Those have slimmed down quite a bit, so she searches for sales online now. No more Times-Useless for us. I do miss them for cleaning stuff though.