Snarky comments about a dying news media are nothing new here, but it’s interesting to see comments like this from a blogger on an investigation:
I did a little detective work. This mostly involved going to a newsstand and purchasing a copy of Newsweek. For me the revelation wasn’t so much the ad as it was that people still pay for news that’s printed on paper and doled out on a weekly basis.
Interesting mostly because it’s found on a cycling related blog.
Come to think of it, I quit buying newspapers quite some time ago as soon as I got into the habit of getting my info online.
Although I get MacLean’s, it’s a gift subscription, and, at least that magazine has the balls to stand up to asshats who want to tell them to shut up, which, to their great credit, they won’t.
Overall, I don’t pay for my news, except indirectly, through my monthly internet service payments.
Let this be a warning to the MSM: If you continue to fail to offer what the customer demands, yet demand they pay for your product/service, you will find your business dying a slow death… to be replaced by media which provides what’s demanded: The truth, the whole truth, and the truth plus frank opinion rather than political correctness and propaganda.
National Post still rates A+ in my books.
Speaking of dying print media…
From CTV.ca,
Quebecor World seeks bankruptcy protection
Updated Mon. Jan. 21 2008 2:34 PM ET
The Canadian Press
[…] The 28,000-employee company, one of Quebec’s most prominent businesses, said Monday it would file under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in Canada and Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code.
[…] Quebecor World shares set an historic low of 10 cents before rising to 16.5 cents in TSX trading Monday following the announcement. That’s still down 50.75 per cent from Friday and well off a 52-week high of $17.25.
[…] Quebecor World, which prints books, flyers, newspapers and other publications, has been hit hard by the growth in Internet information sharing, as well as problems at its European operations and increased competition from rival printers.
[…] By 1998, Quebecor World became the largest printing company in Canada and Europe and the second largest in the United States and Latin America, also operating a joint venture in India.
Speaking of media bias, there’s a link at Hot Air about a new book titled Bush’s War: Media Bias and Justifications for War in a Terrorist Age by a Dr. Kuypers that provides an analysis of the MSM relating to the War on Terror.
One of my first jobs, in the early 90s, was as a reporter for one of Quebecor’s weekly papers in Alberta. Horrible outfit, with little professional regard for the writers and editors they hired. Any quality journalism in their papers came only from the determination of certain editorial staff, but – as one of their publishers once said to me – “the news stuff is really just filler between the ads for us.” Their business is all about keeping the presses fed, and the company’s death will have zero impact on Canadian journalism.