Considering what most newspapers print these days, your “plunger” metaphor was most appropriate.

Radio stations are being hit as well – even the conservative talk radio stations that carry syndicated shows like Limbaugh/Hannity/Levin/etc. Stations (and other media) are scrambling to pickup advertisers that you’d never have heard on there a year ago; prices are being cut to get advertisers in, so ads are there (mostly) but revenues are down.

In this electronic age, where information is available virtually instantaneously, newspapers are dinosaurs with small brains, lumbering bodies and fading relevance. Newspapers used to form public opinion but no longer and they can’ adapt to the new reality. The discerning public doesn’t mind viewing biased Internet sites primarily because such sites hold the same values or opinions.

Of course, the New Internet Media will eventually go the same way.

Reading is becoming a thing of the past…

repvoter on March 28, 2008 at 9:32 PM

He says on a website one mostly has to read.

…MSM spokesholes…

DfDeportation on March 28, 2008 at 11:36 PM

So, where do I send you the bill to clean the coffee off my keyboard and monitor?

In the meantime, hardly a week goes by that I don’t think of calling them up and canceling….and I’ve been reading daily papers for decades.

cthulhu on March 29, 2008 at 1:18 AM

LOL. I feel your pain, and used to live there so know ur rag. Have my own here in NY. I have unsubscribed to every newspaper and magazine that I previously read, including the WSJ. Apart from the offensive content of the editorials and articles, as you say it’s old by the time the paper arrives. Nope, I only get my news online now.It may be biased, but at least it’s new. I’ve read the newspaper since I was around 8. Unfortunately, my kids don’t have one to read. A conservative weekly magazine for kids would be great.

I have more respect for that publication than I do for any large urban daily. There would be in depth analysis of municipal budget talks, stories relating to local businesses and issues that do affect day to day life in the community. It’s a great source to find out how government dollars are being spent in the community.

The weekly small town publications may be the ultimate survivors of newspaper publishing since they already serve the ultimate niche markets and always have. With ALL of the information available on the internet, there is no better source for the local news for my very small town and the surrounding communities.

Unless there’s somewhere on the Internet where I can find out my brother bowled 623 last week.

The old-style newspaper had content that people wanted to attract eyeballs. They then sold the eyeballs to people who had ads. That way, both the consumer and the advertiser would be willing to pay the newspaper.

Now, the content is largely outdated or irrelevant to the consumers, so there are fewer eyeballs. The advertisers, then, aren’t willing to pay as much for their ads.

As a consumer, I’d want to have the paper in my house for content that I cared about, and then I might peruse the ads. Now, there is so much of the paper that goes straight into the recycling bin that I wonder why I’m subscribing at all.

When it comes to having happy customers, they continually offer low-price teaser rates in large, prominent booths at all sorts of events…but never give a break to long-time subscibers. This is especially galling to those of us who remember the 80’s when there was more newsprint in the Sunday paper than two full weeks of today’s version — and it cost less than one Sunday paper today!

There’s an old joke about the Wall Street Journal reporting on Armageddon — a note in column three saying, “End of the World reported from Jerusalem. See page A12 for the effect on hog futures.” It’s funny, but it’s true — the WSJ is a newspaper about business, and everything is linked to its business ramifications. Why can’t the San Jose paper do that? Why aren’t things linked to the San Jose area? Why pull old stuff from the wire services and quote it verbatim? How about “Famine in Ethiopia. South Bay home to many Ethiopian immigrants — see page A12″?

Every time I get nailed in traffic, and wonder just what the heck that was all about, there’s never a story in the newspaper about it. Why is it that I only hear about the President visiting some local chip designers on the radio when I’m stuck in the backup from the motorcade?

Why does the front page read like the op-ed section, and the op-ed section like Democratic Party press releases? The local indie weekly has a touch of Libertarianism that makes them less knee-jerk statist than the Merc. And, maybe, they should consider putting stuff in their rag so people can feel catered-to a little bit, like real valued customers — like a full set of color comics on Sunday.

In the meantime, hardly a week goes by that I don’t think of calling them up and canceling….and I’ve been reading daily papers for decades.

Since I can get every Democratic Party talking point (that I don’t want) from TV, and all the sports news I need on the internet, and all my supermarket coupons at the store, for free, what do I need the Star Tribune for? It’s just one more recyclable that I have to get rid of. No thanks.

RBMN on March 28, 2008 at 9:59 PM

I need them for packing dinner plates to move..

Thankfully there is the recycle bins on Michigan State campus with ‘The State News’ waiting to be picked up..

With their credibility shot and most people turned off by their approach to the news, it’s small wonder that advertisers don’t want to be associated with the product.

Ed…I think you give advertisers too much credit for integrity. It’s all about the circulation.

Craigslist

It’s devastated classified advertising. It may also put all those free local lefty weeklies out of business as well.

The newspaper industry has experienced the worst drop in advertising revenue in more than 50 years

.

newspaper industry = toilet paper

Problem solved,

Newspapers are declining because there are other, more interactive and fun alternatives out there, NOT because they’ve become preachy and biased.

It’s both liberal bias and the numerous alternatives.

I read the newspaper, front to back, every day for at least 35 years. Finally about 6 years ago I could no longer stand the liberal bias and quit. Now it’s wonderful schadenfreude watching them squirm.

He hasn’t gotten back to me yet; probably still formulating his response…

Maybe they will finally start to deliver the product they promised and made free press the great thing that it is, and not what they have made it in the last few years before the internet.

When major papers are undone by regular people on the internet. Maybe it’s time they realize the whole truth is always better than the half truth, or on some occasions false implications.

Maybe if they did that, this wouldn’t be happening.