RIP Rocky Mountain News
posted by Fang Bastardson at 10:38 AM
Friday, February 27, 2009
About Me
- Name: Fang Bastardson
- Location: Nowheresville, Kansas
Born in the wild to Canadian Timberwolves, Fang was wrestled from his mother's teat at an early age and placed in the custody of a government sponsored think tank in New York City. He escaped at age seven by gnawing off a doo-claw and has been riding a wave of self-righteous indignation to Nowheresville, baby, ever since. He is currently enjoying being a PhD (by marriage), but on the advice of his attorney has refused all comment except to assert an apparently deeply-held conviction that frozen strawberries should be thawed, not microwaved.
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8 Comments:
Yup.
11:07 AM
Sorry to hear about your impending doom....
By the way, the Rocky Mountain News was not the best newspaper, unless you needed sports scores, had to get your gossip fix, wanted to look through classified ads, or were lining a birdcage. I know you can do most of those online now, but think about the poor birdies!
What? Too soon?
11:14 AM
"Too soon?"
Yup.
11:22 AM
I really am sorry. Whenever I hear "smart people" talk about the future of newspapers, they always sound like laissez-faire, right-wing fucknuts. And I cringe 'cause I can't help but think of poor Fang.
Personally, I think the government should have a huge pot of money that papers can dig into. Kind of like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, except for the print news media.
12:05 PM
Again, I respectfully disagree.
I think prints news reporting organizations (formerly known as "newspapers") have to find a way to charge for online content based on a subscription model. Advertising revenues are not going to be enough to support the kind of quality journalism that, for example, exposed the Watergate conspiracy.
The web has brought true, dystopian little "d" democracy to news reporting, but zero accountability. And that is bad for America's right to know, which right is essential to maintaining a Big D Democracy, which historically has required a feisty fourth estate charged with keeping our elected crooks in Washington on their toes.
12:18 PM
I was so proud to live in a 2-paper town but alas, the steamroller of progress mowed that down. I'm a Sunday subscriber to the Denver Post so I feel so personal loss but it's another sign of the times for print journalism.
2:40 PM
I grew up with the Rocky Mountain News. I'm sure my parents liked it for other reasons, but I always figured it was because the paper was printed like a magazine - easier to read than the Post.
The RMN is down, now Paul Harvey. What's next?
I shudder to think.
5:14 PM
Have you read Clay Shirky's Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable? It's a little on the longer side but worth reading.
Basically, he says that the newspaper is less important than journalism. Unfortunately he doesn't suggest how to get the same quality of journalism without the newspaper. When you're in the midst of a revolution, you can't see your way out; you can only keep trying different things.
BTW, we dodged a bullet here in Boston when the Times Company almost shut down the Globe last week. I can't imagine this town without it.
6:23 AM
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