Excellent post, Russ, my old Night City Editor at the CC Times, but sad for those of us who had the great good fortune to toil away in newsrooms back when journalism was a vital, indispensable part of civic affairs. I can still hear my City Editor at the Marin Independent Journal bellowing at 4:45 pm: “Fifteen minutes to deadline! Smokin’ keyboards!”
My mum worked for the local paper in Niagara Falls ON. Family owned/managed. Bought up by the Thompson family who own Reuters and are the richest family in Canada. They just slashed and burned as they did with everything they touched, except money. Conrad Black who’s like the Darth Vader of newspaper owners starts the National Post to be a right wing rag against the lefties like the Toronto Star. He’s a convicted felon who relinquished his Canadian citizenship to snag a peerage from the UK. Oh, and he married a witch. We also had the Sun chain very much in the image of the British tabloids including the babe on Pg 3. For years they’re the upstart against the old guard and the competition was fierce. Concentration of ownership sets in to the point where there’s PostMedia with TONS of debt and not much else. They also buy up dozens and dozens of small paper and then slash and burn and close. Unlike the Thompson’s they have no money to count. In Calgary we still have the traditional Calgary Herald and the ‘upstart’ Sun. Except now both are owned by PostMedia and share the same newsroom! Pretty sure the paper are printed in the Philippines or Singapore. And The Herald doesn’t even publish a Monday edition anymore. It’s the same with electronic media. Bell (like AT&T) runs its empire like a poorly run phone company….sound familiar? They recently laid off 4800, sold about half their radio stations, and gutted TV newsrooms and staff. BUT the CEO got his bonus. I don’t know where this is going but the sad reality is much of my consumption now comes from The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight and a small dose of Bill Maher. I fear the end is nigh!
I think the fate of newspapers was sealed when 400+ days of Ted Koppel and “we’re not leaving until the hostages are home” showed there was appetite for more than the 3+1 nightly news. Even though Ted didn’t have much to add after the first two weeks.
I would take issue around bias/ personal influence, it’s human nature and always been there. I’m sure Benjamin Franklin had plenty of it when he set up a network of printers on the east coast. And then fed it with content. It probably made a difference in the start and outcome that rebellion.
Very thorough and intelligent evaluation of today's news biz... I consider myself liberal, yet it annoys me that the NY Times constantly cites Trump's "false claims"...of course we know they are false and Joe won fair and square, but objectivity is defenestrated, as you pointed out , Russ. Was one of Jefferson's props " See you tonight Sally...OK ? "
Excellent post, Russ, my old Night City Editor at the CC Times, but sad for those of us who had the great good fortune to toil away in newsrooms back when journalism was a vital, indispensable part of civic affairs. I can still hear my City Editor at the Marin Independent Journal bellowing at 4:45 pm: “Fifteen minutes to deadline! Smokin’ keyboards!”
My mum worked for the local paper in Niagara Falls ON. Family owned/managed. Bought up by the Thompson family who own Reuters and are the richest family in Canada. They just slashed and burned as they did with everything they touched, except money. Conrad Black who’s like the Darth Vader of newspaper owners starts the National Post to be a right wing rag against the lefties like the Toronto Star. He’s a convicted felon who relinquished his Canadian citizenship to snag a peerage from the UK. Oh, and he married a witch. We also had the Sun chain very much in the image of the British tabloids including the babe on Pg 3. For years they’re the upstart against the old guard and the competition was fierce. Concentration of ownership sets in to the point where there’s PostMedia with TONS of debt and not much else. They also buy up dozens and dozens of small paper and then slash and burn and close. Unlike the Thompson’s they have no money to count. In Calgary we still have the traditional Calgary Herald and the ‘upstart’ Sun. Except now both are owned by PostMedia and share the same newsroom! Pretty sure the paper are printed in the Philippines or Singapore. And The Herald doesn’t even publish a Monday edition anymore. It’s the same with electronic media. Bell (like AT&T) runs its empire like a poorly run phone company….sound familiar? They recently laid off 4800, sold about half their radio stations, and gutted TV newsrooms and staff. BUT the CEO got his bonus. I don’t know where this is going but the sad reality is much of my consumption now comes from The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight and a small dose of Bill Maher. I fear the end is nigh!
“If it bleeds, it leads,” and nobody reads.
I think the fate of newspapers was sealed when 400+ days of Ted Koppel and “we’re not leaving until the hostages are home” showed there was appetite for more than the 3+1 nightly news. Even though Ted didn’t have much to add after the first two weeks.
I would take issue around bias/ personal influence, it’s human nature and always been there. I’m sure Benjamin Franklin had plenty of it when he set up a network of printers on the east coast. And then fed it with content. It probably made a difference in the start and outcome that rebellion.
Alarming but accurate wrap, Russ.
Excellent column.
Like you Russ, I find myself wishing for more of "the way it was".... nice read
Very thorough and intelligent evaluation of today's news biz... I consider myself liberal, yet it annoys me that the NY Times constantly cites Trump's "false claims"...of course we know they are false and Joe won fair and square, but objectivity is defenestrated, as you pointed out , Russ. Was one of Jefferson's props " See you tonight Sally...OK ? "
Sigh... and yet NPR suspended its truth teller.....for.....telling the truth..