The Incredible Shrinking Press
The Monday Chronicle felt so light I had to count the pages. Eight, ten, eight, eight; that’s thirty-four pages total. A one-page op-ed section.Tuesday’s totaled thirty-eight pages. The Op-Ed section is one page again; one editorial, a Krugman column, a piece by Kay Bailey, (probably came at no charge, or did her campaign pay to place it?) five letters, and the daily Bible verse. (John 14:17)
Notice how they shuffle the remaining content so you can’t find anything. They must think that we won’t notice the missing features that way.
At least they still run the comics so I can get my Get Fuzzy and Pearls Before Swine on. If it weren’t for that and the grocery coupons, I’d cancel my subscription and take the Times; say what you will, they still employ reporters and print news.
posted by Julia B. @ 8:08 PM
2 Comments:
Yeah--the NY Times is shrinking, too.
Someone said If the newspapers would print what people want to read, etc., etc., but I'm not sure that's the problem. Who are these "people", anyway?
The problem may be more about the decline of reading. Then there's the shrinking of the bureaus to bring quality coverage, not to mention the downright silliness of obsessing on what the First Lady is wearing, etc., etc. And let's not forget beating some stories to a pulp while ignoring topics that are in desperate need of coverage...
Aw, shit. It hurts to think.
Hi Ms. Lulu,
I'm a fan of David Simon, the "The Wire" guy, and I got to see him speak on CSPAN recently. He said that when he was at The Baltimore Sun they told him to write for the average reader, who read at a seventh-grade level. Simon said "Fuck that guy, they already have a newspaper for him, it's called The USA Today."
Once was that "that guy" knew deep down that he ought to read the paper and be informed some, but that is lost now; the average guy is a vidiot who doesn't even read the TV listings.
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