/dev/null Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge...0081231?sp=true Can we bailout the telegraphs, buggy whips, slave traders, and leech pharmicists too while we're at it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLflutie7 Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge...0081231?sp=true Can we bailout the telegraphs, buggy whips, slave traders, and leech pharmicists too while we're at it? A glut of media entertainment and the newspaper dies. Sad but we can't bailout everything. There is no need for the printed press when we have so much electronic media. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalkie Gerzowski Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 A glut of media entertainment and the newspaper dies. Sad but we can't bailout everything. Their is no need for the printed press when we have so much electronic media. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomer860 Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 None of this matters.In twenty days change is coming and I will be getting my free TV and free gas. I heard one of the ' Boys' supporters say it on TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UConn James Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 This is something that really hits home for me, in more ways than location. Sadly, a lot of things being foreshadowed in books like Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, 1984, Total Recall, et al are happening and we seem powerless to stop them. May not have been exact, but they were an impressionistic view by these authors of where this country/mankind was headed. These books told of a future where people would stop reading and instead be mesmerized by television screens that would throw mostly garbage information at them. It becomes a time when people work their lives away and become too scared, too tired or too hopped up on drugs, Rx and illicit alike, to raise any alarms when people in positions of power take the wrong course. The coming decline of local news is something we're really not prepared for. People seem to have become accustomed to not paying for information. 'County School Board proposes $4M budget' etc. The real meat and potatoes news. Soon there isn't going to be anyone to cover this stuff of basic democracy. The Internet just hasn't really taken off in terms of local papers or news sources as the financials just aren't there. Can it? Don't know. You can bet your 6 that your local teevee news station won't do it; they're too busy showing you some grip'n'grins, a couple of national news stories over and over, the Lindsey Lohan / Ronson quasi-lesbianism and squirrels on waterskis --- wire content that they don't have to pay much for b/c gathering and reporting news costs actual money. Meantime, entities public and private who used to fear their secrets being uncovered become more bold. One more chunk toward the decline of America. But I guess this is where we're going as a culture, and it's where we deserve to go. Govt should not be bailing out newspapers/media, just like they shouldn't have bailed out the banks, but who knows what happens. The people who fear socialism/soft communism have good reason to worry in these times. From my seat, borrowing more and more money from the rest of the world [ Link: US could be facing debt 'time bomb' ] is a proposition for disaster. Many civilizations that collapsed did so b/c they couldn't juggle their economic system anymore. That looks to be the case for us, tho I'm hesitant to put any kind a date on it... you just look what's going on and you know it's not sustainable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Adams Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Responding to UConn James. You sound like Dwight Drane. Literacy rates have largely been unchanged in the last 40 years despite the occasional doom and gloom studies. The Internet has fueled a whole new trend in literacy because people want what it's giving and the only way to Interact with the Web is to read it. In fact, most people would sooner give up their TVs than their Internet connection and with the Internet so young, it's not easy to see where it will head. The demise of local news (and all of its prejudices and awful biases) is giving way to something different: a people-driven news-reporting. Not one of those books ever predicted that the demise of local media would give way to a media that is more democratic than could ever be imagined. Where this heads is anyone's guess but it's something I never read about. Regarding the "Paris Hilton"-ification of people, that's been around forever. People have always loved and gossiped about celebrities. The last 20 years are no different: There are just more outlets for the gossip now (cable TV). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 There's a problem with that transition, though. While professional journalists are held to certain ethical standards, those same guidelines don't exist in the blogosphere. And our citysiders already have issues getting information from local governments; I can't see their level of helpfulness improving when they start getting those requests from Joe Q. Public, instead of the paper of record. 'Citizen journalists' obviously have a place in the future of newsgathering, but I do not look forward to a day when watchdog duties are left in their hands because the 'traditional media' has gone out of business. Bailouts? No, although it would be nice for all my friends in the business who have been laid off in the last year. (Another one yesterday, in fact.) But wait ... even if they did give corporations money, it wouldn't trickle down to the actual newsrooms anyway. Gannett started hacking and slashing to try to maintain their double-digit profit margins long before the bottom fell out of the advertising market. And don't forget, it's not just newspapers. Channel 2 consumer/investigative reporter Mike Igoe is cleaning out his desk this week, because his age/seniority made him an attractive candidate for a buyout. (Was it voluntary? He's saying the right things in public, but I have my doubts.) Will Gannett -- there's that evil word again -- replace him? If they do, it certainly won't be someone with the knowledge and connections he brought to the job. It doesn't serve their viewers, but hey, it's good for the bottom line ... and CEO Craig Dubow can continue collecting his multimillion-dollar salary while Rome burns around him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Adams Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 I agree regarding the media--a bit. My point is that this current washout of the media is not one that we could have predicted 20 years ago. People could have predicted that the media would have trouble, especially at the local level, but no one could have predicted the success and often worthwhile content of blogosphere. The blog-reporter won't replace the media-reporter (with a boss and editor) but if you can predict where this is headed, you're better than me. Media is in a transition period right now--the bloggers won't fill the void alone and traditional print business methods will never make as much money as they once did. There's still a void that some enterprising people should be able to fill well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tux of Borg Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Being rewarded for acting irresponsible in this country is getting out of hand. I wish the federal government would stop bailing everyone out and tell them to fix it themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilly Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 And don't forget, it's not just newspapers. Channel 2 consumer/investigative reporter Mike Igoe is cleaning out his desk this week, because his age/seniority made him an attractive candidate for a buyout. (Was it voluntary? He's saying the right things in public, but I have my doubts.) Will Gannett -- there's that evil word again -- replace him? If they do, it certainly won't be someone with the knowledge and connections he brought to the job. It doesn't serve their viewers, but hey, it's good for the bottom line ... and CEO Craig Dubow can continue collecting his multimillion-dollar salary while Rome burns around him. TV News is terrible. Good riddance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Adams Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 TV News is terrible. Good riddance. I couldn't even make a comment on local TV news. I have lived in Philly for 14 years and can't say I've ever watched a local newscast. Once in a while I stop on the news because a guy I play basketball with is a local TV sports guy but that's the only thing that gets me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilly Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 I couldn't even make a comment on local TV news. I have lived in Philly for 14 years and can't say I've ever watched a local newscast. Once in a while I stop on the news because a guy I play basketball with is a local TV sports guy but that's the only thing that gets me. I hardly watch it, but soemtimes I leave it on in the background while doing other stuff. It's all "there was a murder at the intersection of xxx & yyy" and "today we videotaped a squirrel waterskiing". Nothing that actually really matters, such as local political news or local economic news. One of the local news stations in Orlando recently spent a good month trying to figure out if a pizza left in a truck for a week smells like a dead body. Seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 TV News is terrible. Good riddance. You're not familiar with Igoe's work, then, I take it. He's one of the good guys. Unfortunately, those ranks are dwindling ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjamie12 Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 You're not familiar with Igoe's work, then, I take it. He's one of the good guys. Unfortunately, those ranks are dwindling ... Furthermore, Channel 2 essentially leads every night with local political 'stuff'. Their 'You Paid For It' and 'Holding People in Power Accountable' series are (while certainly dumbed down quite a bit) must watch for anyone interested in local politics in Erie County. I can't speak to Mike Igoe, Lori but losing out on any of these segments would be a huge loss, in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Furthermore, Channel 2 essentially leads every night with local political 'stuff'. Their 'You Paid For It' and 'Holding People in Power Accountable' series are (while certainly dumbed down quite a bit) must watch for anyone interested in local politics in Erie County. I can't speak to Mike Igoe, Lori but losing out on any of these segments would be a huge loss, in my opinion. Yup, they're the closest thing Buffalo TV has to old-fashioned muckrakers, and I mean that as a compliment. (Totally unrelated note: I didn't realize you were 'local' again ...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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