Article

2005-05-10 Home Front: Culture Wars

Remember: You Can't Swat a Fly With a Computer

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by tipper 2005-05-10 11:21|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Newspapers are dying becuase they have lost their purpose: to tell the news, just the NEWS, and not embellish it with opinion, especially far left opinion. That is why they are failing: they are no longer trustworthy, they slant what they tell, and hide a lot as well.

Posted by OldSpook 2005-05-10 11:53|| 2005-05-10 11:53|| Front Page Top

#2 To survive, newspapers must become more like blogs. First, create a news wire of independant sources from all over the Internet: hundreds or thousands of websites who provide news just for a URL byline. That handles your international and national news far better than AP, UPI, Rooters, etc. Then have local news produced by stringers--anyone who writes up a good local story gets paid a nominal fee, from $.25 to $5 PayPal, for it. Then have a few journalists working phones to confirm local stories. Imagine how much news a large city generates in the course of the day! Keep the newspaper to news and ads only--producing a paper thinner than USA Today. Nothing flashy, no colors, no sports, no want ads. The end result would be the same as intensely surfing the Internet for news for several hours.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-05-10 12:08|| 2005-05-10 12:08|| Front Page Top

#3 My son the future journalist says "Newspapers are Dead! I am going into magazines! Somebody always likes the in-depth articles with the glossy photos. Daily news is for computers."

Posted by 3dc 2005-05-10 12:18|| 2005-05-10 12:18|| Front Page Top

#4 And remember, the LA Times is always good for potty-training dogs or lining the birdcage.

Posted by BH 2005-05-10 12:41|| 2005-05-10 12:41|| Front Page Top

#5 The problem with newspapers is the problem with television news (especially network news). By the time anyone opens the newspaper or turns on the news they know all the actual news from the internet. That's reduced television, magazines and newspapers to become entertainment outlets, instead of news sources... which is why they don't contain much real news anymore and are just opinion rags.

Posted by Damn_Proud_American 2005-05-10 13:03|| 2005-05-10 13:03|| Front Page Top

#6 im read the papers not for breakin news but for data about the news that broke - liker what kinda payoff the derby trifecta had and ifn baby earnhardt still in the top 10

Posted by half 2005-05-10 15:52|| 2005-05-10 15:52|| Front Page Top

#7 Most cities used to have morning and afternoon papers. The afternoon papaers went the way of the dodo bird many years ago. But the morning papers are written the day before because nobody stays up all night. The net result is opinion and wire service copy. And in a world that the newsday is happening when North Americans are sleeping, well 15 minutes with Rantburg at 9:00am EST gets met everything I need.

Posted by john">john 2005-05-10 15:54|| 2005-05-10 15:54|| Front Page Top

#8 Note how the oh-so-liberal Mr.Kinsley implies the Wall Street Journal is the right wing equal of "nearly insane far-left rantings". Maybe it is bias like this that is causing your LA Times to lose subscribers.
When a paper constantly attacks 1/2population as stupid,after a while that 50% sees no reason to buy that paper.
In reality,what is happening is a return to traditional American news sources. Until the 1960s most cities had at least 2 papers,one generally conservative,one generally liberal. Until recentlt most cities have had only one major paper,w/a generally liberal viewpoint. With the Internet Revolution,we are returning to the news landscape of multiple sources and viewpoints. Just as in the early days of our Republic when anyone could print his pamphlets,now most anyone can blog.

Posted by Stephen 2005-05-10 16:56|| 2005-05-10 16:56|| Front Page Top

#9 BTW,you can swat a fly w/a computer. It's just that the fly has to really p*** you off!

Posted by Stephen 2005-05-10 16:58|| 2005-05-10 16:58|| Front Page Top

#10 Computer? Heck no I use 22 bird shot. :D

Internet news lets me pick my own filter, not some liberal north easterners. Yup the papers are dead.

Posted by Sock Puppet 0â Doom 2005-05-10 18:04|| 2005-05-10 18:04|| Front Page Top

#11 I see blogs as the newspapers of the Old Republic during the 1700s. There were thousands of them. Some downright silly and lampoonish, others more respectible. The respectible ones became full blown newspapers, the others dissapeared.

Posted by mmurray821 2005-05-10 18:15|| 2005-05-10 18:15|| Front Page Top

#12 In this great country, there are newspaper editorial pages of every political stripe, from nearly insane far-left rantings to the Wall Street Journal.
And I, Michael Kinsley, will ensure that the LAT's is the former.

Posted by eLarson 2005-05-10 18:33|| http://larsonian.blogspot.com]">[http://larsonian.blogspot.com] 2005-05-10 18:33|| Front Page Top

#13 Tipper, sure you can swat flies with a computer. Try it.

Posted by GK 2005-05-10 21:11|| 2005-05-10 21:11|| Front Page Top

23:59 Sobiesky
23:56 Atomic Conspiracy
23:34 Whutch Threth6418
23:29 SC88
23:23 mojo
23:10 Frank G
23:06 Stephen
22:58 Spoluper Hupenter1939
22:52 Kevlar ID
22:36 Jackal
22:32 blackhorse
22:32 Anonymoose
22:25 .com
22:18 Jackal
22:10 jules 2
22:10 jules 2
22:09 jules 2
22:01 Sobiesky
21:54 trailing wife
21:54 Frank G
21:39 Sobiesky
21:39 Mrs. Davis
21:36 Sobiesky
21:36 Frank G