Pulling the plug on 139 years

[Carolina Kiltman]

This has been in the works for a long time, I am sorry to say.

If I live another 20-25 years, I will be surprised if there are any real print newspapers left. I also expect to see all "news" disappear, whatever the media.

Newsgathering, like customer service, is expensive, and the bean counters don't like that. For example, one of the local TV stations spends nearly 15 minutes of every newscast gossiping about some celebrity or sports figure (s).

Real news is all but gone.

That worries me as how are we to have informed citizens without news?

[Beertigger]

I don't think it'll disappear - it's an essential function of a democracy, and one that its practitioners are passionate about.

I think we'll see more family/privately owned news operations, much like newspapers used to be.

The pressures of the Internet, etc, will keep such operations from becoming as parochial as they may have been "back in the day," but only a dedicated owner will spend the money on gathering real news.

Shareholders want returns; they don't care if you're doing a good job. News operations don't function well as publicly owned corps. Witness the current mess - rather than investing in new media, the big chains are cutting.

Private concerns can accept smaller returns, secure in the knowledge that people will always need real news.

This has been in the works for a long time, I am sorry to say.

If I live another 20-25 years, I will be surprised if there are any real print newspapers left. I also expect to see all "news" disappear, whatever the media.

Newsgathering, like customer service, is expensive, and the bean counters don't like that. For example, one of the local TV stations spends nearly 15 minutes of every newscast gossiping about some celebrity or sports figure (s).

Real news is all but gone.

That worries me as how are we to have informed citizens without news?

[Downix]

I don't think it'll disappear - it's an essential function of a democracy, and one that its practitioners are passionate about.

I think we'll see more family/privately owned news operations, much like newspapers used to be.

The pressures of the Internet, etc, will keep such operations from becoming as parochial as they may have been "back in the day," but only a dedicated owner will spend the money on gathering real news.

Shareholders want returns; they don't care if you're doing a good job. News operations don't function well as publicly owned corps. Witness the current mess - rather than investing in new media, the big chains are cutting.

Private concerns can accept smaller returns, secure in the knowledge that people will always need real news.

Precisely, witness the rise of IndyMedia and Current.