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April 28, 2008

Not Waiting For The Asteroid

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"An avowedly progressive paper".

Posted by Kate at April 28, 2008 8:01 PM
Comments

I like this:
“We felt our audience was shrinking so that we were not relevant,”

More likely that it was shrinking *because* they weren't relevant.

Posted by: Norman at April 28, 2008 8:37 PM

"The Web strategy, while seen as a long-term solution, is still a work in progress"....

Translation: We are clueless, but, found a discount rate web designer who told us that everything will work out fine.

Drudge had a link today that the NYT's had a severe hit to it's ad rich Sunday edition. When that revenue goes, they are gone. Break out the popcorn. I'm loving every minute of this ongoing saga.

Posted by: penny at April 28, 2008 9:05 PM

There's that term "progressive" again. I've always wondered, since "progress" assumes a predetermined endpoint, couldn't the "progressives" just cut the c*#p and tell us what that predetermined endpoint actually is? From the nickle and dime increments they espouse it seems to be something from the opening scenes of Bladerunner, The Gulag Archipelago, 1984, or a combination thereof. Could some lefty please enlighten us?

Posted by: DrD at April 28, 2008 9:24 PM

There's that term "progressive" again. I've always wondered, since "progress" assumes a predetermined endpoint, couldn't the "progressives" just cut the c*#p and tell us what that predetermined endpoint actually is? From the nickle and dime increments they espouse it seems to be something from the opening scenes of Bladerunner, The Gulag Archipelago, 1984, or a combination thereof. Could some progressive please enlighten us?

Posted by: DrD at April 28, 2008 9:25 PM

Aaaaaargh. Death to double posts. It was George Bush, the CIA, the vast right wing conspiracy I tell you!

Posted by: DrD at April 28, 2008 9:27 PM

Kate, I love the "Not Waiting For the Asteroid Series", but the "Frankly My Dear" series is a close second, I think!

Posted by: John Murney at April 28, 2008 9:40 PM

Kate, I love the "Not Waiting For the Asteroid" Series, but the "Frankly My Dear" series is a close second, I think!

Posted by: John Murney at April 28, 2008 9:40 PM

Why do I feel like I just stepped into a Wrigley's gum commercial?

Posted by: Tim at April 28, 2008 10:00 PM

HA! This is GREAT! The best thing is the journalism schools are continuing to crank out these losers by the busload.

Soon the words "I have a degree in journalism" will draw the amount of derision and ridicule that that they've ALWAYS deserved.

Posted by: John at April 28, 2008 10:32 PM

"I have a journalism degree"
will be followed by the words,
"do you want fries with that?".

Posted by: cappy at April 29, 2008 5:43 AM

“An independent voice for peace and economic and social justice that speaks truth to power each and every day.”

Lord, it's enough to make a man puke.

Posted by: RSP at April 29, 2008 7:05 AM

"But in recent years, the paper’s circulation dropped to about 18,000 from a high in the 1960s of more than 40,000."

Actually, it's much worse.

According to statistics I googled for the Madison metropolitan area,* the population in the 1960s (when the circulation was over 40,000) varied from 220,000 to 290,000. The current population is over half a million and these guys can't circulate 18,000 papers!

“We felt our audience was shrinking so that we were not relevant,”

Into denial, are we? Try saying it this way, chaps:

"We felt that we were not relevant so our audience was shrinking."

The term "progressive" is the kiss of death to anyone or any group that so labels itself. It means banishment to a firmly closed loop of political loons. Exhibit A: rabble.ca.

* Another advantage of the Internet!

Posted by: JJM at April 29, 2008 7:53 AM

And lest it be thought I'm picking on the lefties when it comes to the term "progressive," I offer as Exhibit B: the Progressive Conservatives.

Anyone remember them?

Posted by: JJM at April 29, 2008 8:04 AM

And another one.........

"Orange County Register, related publications lay off dozens"

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/MediaNews/2008/04/28/5414471-ap.html

Posted by: AtlanticJim at April 29, 2008 8:10 AM

"Exhibit B: the Progressive Conservatives. Anyone remember them?"

Half a dozen of 'em are still rattlin' around the Senate, JJM, though one did "re-rat" to the "government caucus".

Posted by: jwkozak91 at April 29, 2008 8:51 AM

Copy editors, by contrast, are “exiting at a higher rate than reporters,” said Paul Fanlund, the editor who arrived from The State Journal in 2006.

Buried in the story, that gives you an idea of what you can look forward to with these online newpapers - poorly written copy that no one has time to do a substantive edit on, sent straight to the web full of grammar, spelling and factual errors because there are no copy editors with the time to do their job. This is MY business, people, and I'm seeing it everywhere.

Posted by: rick mcginnis at April 29, 2008 9:25 AM

"Progressing" towards a totalitarian, elitist-controlled, socialist quagmire.

Posted by: grok at April 29, 2008 12:08 PM

Poor Orange County Register. Another right-wing paper feeling hard times.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-register29apr29,1,4351900.story

Posted by: Todd at April 29, 2008 12:49 PM
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