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Wednesday, July 2. 2008

Dying newspapers

Fact is, we love newspapers. I worked for one for over a year, and our News Junkie works for one now. What we do not like is purportedly credible and objective newspapers being used as propaganda mills.

I do not mind newspapers like Il Manifesto, on every newsstand in Italy, which is a Communist paper. You can assume they slant their reporting and cherry-pick their facts to support their political agendas. Their readers want their views reinforced, and not challenged. One reason Conservative blogs exist is because the MSM so frequently overlooks inconvenient truths.

Glenn, who rarely writes anything resembling a blog post, today discusses newspapers.

Related: The Great media Depression

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 10:26 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

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I tend to agree with Jerry. It hasn't been overt, but Glenn's been wriggling like a puppy over the demise of newspapers and printing every single article and blog post he can find on the subject. If he doesn't like the word "glee", how about "rapture"?

On the other hand, he's right as to the 'why'. I think Taranto did a great job of summing it up in yesterday's BOTW:

QUOTE:
The Associated Press brings us some good news from Baghdad:

"Militants killed fewer U.S. and NATO troops in Iraq in June than in Afghanistan for the second straight month, an encouraging milestone capping a run of headline-grabbing coalition victories that analysts say underscore the Iraqi insurgency's diminishing strength."

Whoops, sorry! That's not how the AP wrote it. It's actually a dispatch from Kabul, and it is bad news:

"Militants killed more U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan in June than in Iraq for the second straight month, a grim milestone capping a run of headline-grabbing insurgent attacks that analysts say underscore the Taliban's growing strength."

We're not saying our spin is better than the AP's, but why not just report the facts? Is it really necessary to "spin" at all?

As Glenn said, treating the populace like morons is generally not considered good business practice. And as Ace said the other day, the demise of a bad newspaper just opens the door for a good one.

The question is whether or not newspapers are outdated as a media. If they are, then trying to keep them alive ranks right up there with trying to keep the horse & buggy alive. A noble effort, ultimately doomed to failure.
#1 Dr. Mercury on 2008-07-02 11:29 (Reply)
I should be sad to see the demise of the major newspapers, but I'm not. They long ago, have been buried by the yellow of their own bias reporting. A Fourth Estate should be the watchdog of our Republic, but they have become the lapdogs of the socialists. Good riddance.
#2 Ratso on 2008-07-02 14:15 (Reply)

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