Comments on: A sign of more to come?

By: donna j

donna j — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:27:31 +0000

But with shrinking staffs & resources, investigative pieces are going to be rare indeed.

By: Amphipolis

Amphipolis — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:38:05 +0000

Why would I pay for political advertising? I get plenty for free.

Papers need to make themselves relevant by doing good investigative reporting. Make people sit up and notice. Think about that as you read the lazy year in review recycled copy that is about to be sold to us as news.

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By: Random Name

Random Name — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:09:45 +0000

In regard to the Tribune, the accusation is that Zell, the purchaser, arranged his financing so that employees who thought they were getting bought out end up with little or nothing, while he gets quite a bit.

Good work if you can get it.

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By: donna j

donna j — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:54:43 +0000

Complaints of bias are legitimate, for whatever reason most folks who go into journalism are liberal. To what extent that influences a person’s reporting varies, but my sense is that we used to be much more cautious about letting any of that seep into our stories.

The internet perhaps has made everyone feel a bit more free, I don’t know, but I do think there needs to be a renewed emphasis on the value of objectivity to the extent that is humanly possible. It amazes me that so many of my liberal colleagues completely shrug off the charge of bias — the perception is so widespread that we in the industry ignore it to our peril.

But the reason papers are in such dire economic straights really is a result of ad revenue, including classifieds, being lost to the internet.

Our paper is a daily that covers several local communities, our circulation is about 80,000. So we’re not tiny, but we do emphasize local coverage.

As I said, Im afraid people won’t realize what they’ve lost until they’ve lost it. And I’m not talking about “wrapping breakables.” Journalism serves an important role in a democracy and in a community and I’m sad to see it come to being so disparaged.

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By: TRS

TRS — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:04:16 +0000

I don’t mind our small, local paper, although I ought to subscribe to it again. It did go Liberal about 5 years ago, when it was bought out by some bigger paper, and that kept me from re-subscribing then.

But, our main Oregon paper…I won’t touch it with a ten-foot pole. It is extremely Liberal, biased, uninteresting, and — as someone pointed out — filled with even Liberally biased comics.

They tried to give me 4 months for free, and I told them NO, NO, NO. They were shocked. Who wouldn’t want it for free? ME.

My only problem is that I miss all the other things a paper is good for…wrapping breakables, lining things, underneath messy art projects, etc.

I’m having a really hard time feeling sorry for newspapers, although I can feel sorry for people like Donna.

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By: Chas

Chas — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:55:44 +0000

Without our local paper we would never learn that Jeff Miller had been given a presidential award. He is the one who started the “Honor Air” recognition here that was copied elsewhere.
We would not know of the local sports heroes, who are exceptional in their field. This is important to them and the community. Without the local paper we would still have 4-way stops on Main St. rather than going back to lights. etc.
So, I agree, we need it.
However, a few days ago, I mentioned a headline that blasted something about “Sarah Palin not the only one using campaign money for clothes! when the article had nothing to do with Sarah.
They, not the internet, are largely responsible for their own demise. They should report the news as fact, not editorialise on the front page.
On the WV, I mentioned the Tribune and LA Times going bankrupt. I suggested that the DNC could bail them out.

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By: donna j

donna j — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:46:12 +0000

ps to my earlier comment about local radio news, that goes for local TV news as well. How many times have I spotted the duded-up broadcast reporters scanning our articles before doing their standup on a particular story.

They often rely on the newspapers to do most of the grunt work for them.

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By: donna j

donna j — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:43:21 +0000

And thanks Arcadia for your perspective as well. Our paper used to have a conservative editorial slant, now we’re liberal. Whatever. Those things come and go.

Meanwhile, the reporters are pounding the streets and yawing through city council and school board meetings and poring over police reports, all on the community’s behalf.

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By: donna j

donna j — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:38:08 +0000

Sigh.

I’ve been a newspaper reporter my entire career and hate to see this happening (and not only for personal survival reasons).

Michelle, thank you, you make excellent points. Local news is generally NOT available elsewhere in most communities. At our paper, we are now all blogging & twittering. Our crime blog tells readers what those helicopters hovering overhead are all about. Just this week we had a report about a high school girl who escaped an abduction while walking home from school.

We sit through hideously boring city council meetings, which nevertheless produce news that we report & that really matters to our residents. We tell you what’s being developed on the big vacant lot in downtown, or whether that public school will be built in your neighborhood. Today’s paper included a story about a local church that wants to build housing on its property for recovering drug addicts. The city council denied the application. I’m guessing my colleague sat through hours to get that story reported.

(Oh, and you know where radio gets its stories? Yep, from the local newspaper every day, often read verbatim on the air.)

Our newspaper offers plenty of “good” stories along with the crime that people need (and want) to know about — my assignment on Thanksgiving was to cover a family who delivers homemade Turkey dinners to the staff at the hospital where their premature son remained hospitalized for 4 months (he’s 3 years old now, and accompanies his parents on the holiday run). On Christmas Eve, I’ll do a story about I family I know in my church who will be finalizing the adoption of their baby girl on that day.

I’m just saying that people may come recognize the value of their local paper only when it’s gone.

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By: arcadia

arcadia — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:02:58 +0000

I despise the conservative bias of our local paper, (part of a small chain of 12 or so small market papers), but would very much miss not just the crime coverage, but coverage of municipal, county and state government, features on local folks, classifieds and even the occasional ad inserts.

It’s a pretty big fish in a small pond, and were it to disappear, things would be a lot quieter and we would be poorer in many different ways.

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