The Vanishing Newspaper? A webcast

3 responses to “The Vanishing Newspaper? A webcast”

1. 

   paul_lukasiak

   March 3, 2005

   (I would have put a question mark in there, by the way; it’s not vanishing but it sure is changing.)
   I would agree, and I find little to support most of the “assumptions” that are announced on the registration site. First and foremost is the statement
   Why is their social and commercial influence on the decline? One reason is because the American public is losing faith in their ability to be fair arbiters of national discourse and honest recorders/ interpreters of community and national life. Another reason is that alternative avenues of information are gaining momentum, most notably on the Internet. The result has been declining newspaper readership and share of advertising dollars.
   as you yourself have noted, newspapers aren’t dying, they just aren’t growing—and in this economy that lack of growth “smells like death.” (and, in fact, if one includes “on-line” editions of newspapers, readership has probably increased—most of us who now get most of their information from the internet wind up being exposed to a variety of “newspapers” each day.)
   More importantly, I think that the premise is completely off base. “Newspapers” have been disappearing since the advent of radio, and this “disappearance” accelerated with the advent of television. Nor is it really correct to imply that “Newspapers” as a phenomenon are disappearing—there is not a single major media market that does not have at least one daily newspaper. And its inexcusable to discuss “disappearing newspapers” within including the influence of the consolidation and concentration of media ownership, which makes it virtually impossible for the “independent” daily newspaper to compete in most markets.
   Nor is there any real evidence that “disappearing newspapers” is attributable to people “losing faith” in their ability to be “fair abiters of the national discourse”. In fact, newspapers as a whole were never considered to be “fair abiters” as such — most sizable media markets once had multiple newspapers, each with its own particular point of view — it is only with the advent of media consolidation that newspapers are suddenly expected to be “fair arbiters.” (This “fair arbiter” assumption may also be related to the fairness doctrine that was imposed on television stations until 1987 — the expectations for television news derived from the existence of the fairness doctrine probably spilled over to other forms of media as well.)
   Finally, there is the assertion that “alternative sources of information are gaining momentum, most notably the internet.” As noted above, “alternative sources of information” have had quite a bit of momentum for quite some time, and if anything the existence of the internet is increasing newspaper readership IF one includes on-line editions.
   Additionally, if newspapers are “disappearing”, it probably has a great deal more to do with “alternative sources of distraction”, rather than “information”, and a significant decrease in the American people’s willingness to make informed decisions as citizens. This phenomenon has far more to do with the devolution of American culture to one of relentless self-indulgence than anything else.
   In other words, once again we are presented with a “conference” that is based upon false assumptions, but that we are expected to consider “authoritative”.

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2. 

   paul_lukasiak

   March 3, 2005

   oh, and who does Meyer think he’s kidding with the statement…
   An advertising message is worth more if it appears in an environment of credibility and respect.
   Two words.
   Fox News.

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3. 

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   April 15, 2005

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