In an informative, well-written and extremely lengthy piece written for the March 31 edition of The New Yorker, Eric Alterman examines the business of newspaper and its seemingly impending death.
Alterman explains the history of American newspapers and details the struggles papers such as The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times have weathered in recent years. According to the story, The New York Times' stock has depreciated 54 percent in the past three-plus years, and The Washington Post is making more money through sister company Kaplan than its news organization.
Until recently, newspapers were accustomed to operating as high-margin monopolies. To own the dominant, or only, newspaper in a mid-sized American city was, for many decades, a kind of license to print money. In the Internet age, however, no one has figured out how to rescue the newspaper in the United States or abroad. Newspapers have created Web sites that benefit from the growth of online advertising, but the sums are not nearly enough to replace the loss in revenue from circulation and print ads.
This is the newspaper's dilemma: It can move content to the web, but it cannot yet earn money with web-based content. Online advertising does not create nearly as large a windfall as print advertising, and consumers have not yet bought into (pun intended) paying for online content.
According to figures in Alterman's story, only eight percent of people aged under 35 said they would consider reading newspapers in the future. While newspapers tread the waters of the web, readers - especially young readers - are visiting blogs for breaking news and commentary. Information-seekers turn to "The Huffington Post" or "The Drudge Report" for their politics, "Deadspin" and "The Big Lead" for their sports and "TMZ" for entertainment updates.
Problem is, blogs aren't news organizations. Bloggers can offer deft commentary, but more often than not rely on traditional news operations for their stories - traditional media that check sources, (usually) adhere to ethical standards and get out of their armchairs to report stories.
Despite the many failures at newspapers, the vast majority of reporters and editors have devoted years, even decades, to understanding the subjects of their stories. It is hard to name any bloggers who can match the professional expertise, and the reporting, of, for example, the Post ’s Barton Gellman and Dana Priest, or the Times’ Dexter Filkins and Alissa Rubin.
Alterman's example illustrates why blogs - and the public as a whole - will always need legitimate news organizations: Accountability and professionalism are key tenets of journalism. Newspapers, online or otherwise, are staffed with reporters and editors schooled in the ethics and standards of the profession.
Bloggers do serve an important role: They often offer insight and diverse opinion on the stories generated by news organizations. Blogs can augment traditional media, but they can't replace it.
- Asher Fusco