Demise of the daily newspaper

By
Bill Press                                                                            Read Spanish Version

We
live in an age of rapid change, especially in the field of
communications. And most of that’s OK with me.

I
wouldn’t mind giving up my fax machine. I seldom use it these days.
It’s been a long time since I wrote a letter; e-mail’s so much
faster. And I haven’t yet, but I’d gladly do away with my land line.
Who needs it, as long as you’ve got a good cell phone?

But
here’s where I draw the line. Just don’t take away my morning paper.
That’s too high a price to pay. Yet it sure looks like that’s where
we’re heading.

Already
this year we’ve lost the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer. The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times
have both filed for bankruptcy. The Detroit Free Press and the
Detroit News cancelled home delivery on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays
and Saturdays. The San Francisco Chronicle is expected to fold any
day now. And even the mighty New York Times is rumored to be on life
support.

"Saving
the New York Times now ranks with saving Darfur as a high-minded
cause," Times Executive Editor Bill Keller recently told an
audience at Stanford University. Well, I wouldn’t go quite that
far.
Darfur is still a higher priority. But certainly, the demise of the
daily newspaper is not something we should quietly accept as the
price of living in the 21st century. Free and independent newspapers
play too important a role in a democratic society to let them simply
disappear.

And
don’t tell me we don’t need newspapers any longer, because we now
have the Internet. I’m sorry. I spend most of my day in front of a
computer screen. I start the day checking out Huffington Post,
Politico, the Drudge Report, Daily Kos, Media Matters and several
other Web sites. And not one of them can hold a candle to the morning
paper.

First,
there’s the practical, or tactile, advantage of a newspaper over a
computer. You can’t read your laptop on the subway. You can’t take it
with you to the john. You can’t clip an article from it and send it
to a friend. You can’t use it to start a fire or line a bird cage.
And did you ever try to wrap a Walleye in a laptop?

And
maybe you haven’t noticed? But where do most of those Web sites get
all their original material? The daily paper. What’s their primary
source? The daily paper. And when you follow the links to get more
information, where do the Web sites send you? The daily paper.

Who’s
going to do the research? Who’s going to put in the time, track down
the sources, conduct the interviews, double-check the facts, and do
the serious reporting when the journalists who work for the daily
papers are gone? Nobody. And we’ll all suffer because of it.

One
other point. As one who’s on the road a lot, I can tell you: The
morning paper’s about the only thing that distinguishes one big city
from another these days. For the most part, all restaurants are part
of the same chains. Same with the big department stores. You can’t
tell a Costco in Tampa from a Costco in Chico. But pick up the
Oregonian and you could only be in Portland. Same with the Denver
Post, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, or the Santa Rosa
Press-Democrat. Each one is a unique reflection of its city, its
people and its problems.

The
imminent demise of the daily newspaper has even alarmed some members
of Congress. Maryland Sen. Benjamin Cardin has introduced legislation
to help newspapers survive by restructuring as nonprofits in order to
qualify for special tax breaks. Newspapers could still report on all
issues, but they would be prohibited from making political
endorsements. Subscriptions and advertising revenue would be tax
exempt.

Frankly,
I hope we don’t have to go that far. I’d hate to see all newspapers
turn into a print edition of NPR [National Public Radio], afraid to
take a stand for fear of losing their tax-exempt status. How much
better if members of the public would come to the rescue: recognize
the importance of their community newspapers, order home delivery,
buy it and advertise in it.

But
if the free market won’t work, then let the government step in. If
it’s important enough to save General Motors, it’s important enough
to save the daily paper.

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "Train
Wreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too
Soon)."
You can hear "The Bill Press Show" at his Web site:
billpressshow.com. His email address is: bill@billpress.com.
(c)
2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.