Comments on: Readers’ Views on the Newspaper Industry

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:30:32 +0000

For me, newspapers have become irrelevant because:
1) They do not publish the truth, and often seek to suppress or distort it.
2) Related to this is their unwillingness to publish anything that offends their advertisers. This contradicts one of the basic tenets of journlistic freedom.
3) In political terms, they continue to support and promulgate the central leviathan party – the Democrats and Republicans. Third parties better look elsewhere for fair and equal coverage.

I would also agree with those who indicated that a discomfort with reading, and a dumbing down, amongst the replacement demographic group as current readers age, is a factor. We live in a world of soundbites.

As for unions being the source of the newspaper operator’s ills: I’ve not run a newspaper, and thus have had no experience with it. But it seems to be a(media) theme of the last two decades that unions are simply groups of greedy, lazy workers who want something for nothing, to the detriment of us all. Thank god we’ve got upper management, showing us the virtue of earning one’s pay by hard work, and the results that one achieves for one’s company. Ken Lewis being a great example.
I’ve never been part of a union, but they ARE the folks that brought us the “un”important things: a five day workweek, exclusion of children from labor, relief from dangerous workplace conditions.

By: Christo

Christo — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:09:30 +0000

Re:the demise of newspapers
Instead of looking to blame unions, owner, or whatever I would attribute the lack of readership(and therefore lack of advertising -hence lack of profits) to the fact that there are not any NEW subscribers because reading is not a passtime anymore in this age of functional literacy.Only a small minority of young people read anything outside their school curriculum,and many express a dislike of reading…and of course parents do not want to upset their prescious kids by disagreeing with them and applying some discipline-even if they have time after ferrying them to school,ballet,singing and dance class,archery,hockey in some city 200 miles away at 5 AM etc…

People do not seem to care about history or the pursuit of knowledge anymore–and I consider the newspaper my daily hit of ongoing history…however people care very much about celebrity and fame …I bet rags like “People” and “US” magazine are doing fine…In this age of “American Idol” and over-compensated superstars it is much more important to learn how to sing and dance,or pursue a future in sports than say,learn something interesting about the world around you …Our narcissist society does not care about being engaged intellectually one whit…

Amongst my friends(which include doctors, lawyers,teachers.tradesmen etc.) I know of no one who reads a paper.They do not cite unions or content for the reason…Journalists could work pro bono and it would not effect circulation one bit .

Less significant but still a major factor is who actually can or will spend 1 to 2 hours to digest their slow media meal…Reading,digesting,and reflecting is impossible when you’re twittering or checking your facebook…

Many people actually think that shows like “ET” ARE the news…God help us…

here’s a telling anecdote re: newspaper readship–a teacher at Ryerson Journalism school found that of all his students in his first year class that not a one had ever read a newspaper before!

By: george monaco

george monaco — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:14:37 +0000

to g.c. from sun city west,arizona.

there is nothing wrong with the n.y.times.there may be something wrong with gannett but the n.y.times is one of the best newspapers in the world.i am from n.y.c.and have read the paper for the last 35 years.sorry it offends you but it is obvious that a publication that is aimed at people with high I.Q.’s is not something you can identify with.their columns are professionally written,they have grammatically correct sentences,they are succinct and to the point.for the past 9 years,i have been living in orlando. now, if you want to trash a newspaper,the orlando sentinel is pure garbage.it is owned by sam zell who owns the tribune publications.heck,the morning call from Allentown,P.A.is a better paper than the orlando sentinel.i have traveled all over the world and have read hundreds of newspapers and the n.y.times,by far,is my most favorite of all.that and the wall street journal are the two newspapers i ask for as soon as i check into a hotel,no matter where i am.

g.m.from orlando,florida