For John, BLUF: I, for one, am pulling for the local rag. Nothing to see here; just move along.
On page 2 of today'sThe Lowell Sun is an article datelined out of New York City, but involves us here in Lowell. On page 2 is an article about Digital First Media Group looking to sell off its media properties, which include The Denver Post, which in turn includes The Lowell Sun. The lede is:
Digital First Media, the operator of this web site and newspaper, announced Friday that it will "evaluate and consider strategic alternatives" that could lead to the sale of some or all of the company.Some may have other views, but it seems to me that the shuttering of our local newspaper would have a major impact on how news is provided, how information is disseminated. Newspapers can be very important to communities. That was the theme of the made for TV movie on the Hallmark channel last evening, The Wishing Well. Yes, we idealize (or demonize) local newspapers, but they help us understand what is going on around us. We even provide The Stars and Stripes to Service personnel and their families overseas, and it does a good job of helping folks know what is going on locally and back in the States. As I recall, in Germany, each Thursday edition listed all the Volksmarches for the weekend, an important service to Service personnel.
I, for one, hope The Lowell Sun continues to burn brightly.
Your mileage may differ.
Regards — Cliff
Observing how they squander resources on "columnists" (you know who I mean) and continually under-to-don't-cover local news, there's a fair curiosity for what creative destruction might yield for the community in its place. It's staggering to me, knowing how starved this city is for actual and accurate local information, how an organization of that size can burn through its money without generating all that much of it, and leave us all the poorer for it. Knowing the quality of the front line journalists they continue to under-use, misuse and, let's face it, abuse, it's surely a temptation to wonder what some other organization might be able to do with a focused effort to actually prioritize journalism in this city with those same people providing the core of the coverage. I've also often wondered if part of the problem for local businesses is the absence of an effective means to reach their potential clientele that a true local paper could actually provide... Here's hoping!
ReplyDeleteWhich internet only news provider has an investigative journalist staff? How many internet only news providers have journalists who rank the Pulitzer prize as a goal in their writing careers?
ReplyDeleteAn aside tangential comment: Encyclopedias have been replaced by www.wikipedia.org; but the really nice thing about having the references in the bookcase, appearances aside, was the knowledge that the facts didn't change. The security of knowing that when your daughter did a report on Hitler she would not be led astray by some Neo-Nazi sympathizer's latest rewrite of Hitler's Germany facts to be found on wikipedia or any official reference-like webpage.
Yes, I admit, some facts do change as our understanding of the subject has evolved such as in the field of medicine. But people need to realize that to rely on the internet as a history source is to potentially subject themselves to propaganda and disinformation. The bound printed page is SO much harder to change than the digital one.
Let me take a silent poll. How many of you, who still purchase published printed books on paper, would purchase such a book that was self-published by some unknown author? Doesn't the vetting process used in the publishing industry have value for which you are willing to pay?
Today there is just too much information out there. The manure surroundings the ponies is increasing at an exponential rate. The end result will be that someday we just walk away from the internet. We will go down to the local library hopefully still finding a few printed books left on their shelves. I believe every printed book deserves to find a good home, even the less than desirable ones.
It is bound to happen you know. In the late 1970's, i.e., years ago, I was told that old books are recycled--and they are, into to toilet paper. I thought this was awful then; and, I continue think of the printed works as endangered species. Thus I collect printed books in preference to cups of Starbucks coffee, so that someday when the power grid is down I will still be able to acquire previous knowledge known to mankind. I will not let lifetimes, represented in these author's bound printed pages, vanish into ephemeral electrical ether.
Re Pressing On, I am reminded of Ed Morrissey of the Captain's Cabin blog, who brought down a Canadian Government, by reporting what couldn't be reported by the Canadian Press (no First Amendment and all that).
ReplyDeleteAdjustments would be required, but I think it would be possible. As for the Pulitzer, I like to reflect back on that famous winner, Walter Duranty, writing for the always reliable New York Times.
Refards — Cliff