Struggling to Save Journalsim
By Don | July 2, 2009
News honchos struggled for answers on how to save journalism at a recent Aspen Instutte panel.
From the Politico
“At any given moment, there is a panel taking place somewhere in the world discussing the future of journalism,” Aspen Institute president and longtime journalist Walter Isaacson said at the end of Tuesday night’s panel discussion titled, “What’s the News Worth to You?”
Isaacson’s panel at the Institute’s Ideas Festival in Colorado was just the latest example of such a discussion and featured Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth, ABC News’s David Westin, Bloomberg L.P.’s Norman Pearlstine, Time's Josh Tyrangiel and Journalism Online’s Steven Brill.
As is usually the case with such discussions, the group didn’t break any serious ground in determining how to save a troubled journalism industry. In fact, many had to admit that they had no idea what to do.
“We will look at anything and are taking a wait-and-see approach,” said Weymouth. “We think about a ton of things. Everything is open.” When asked whether print papers will always be around, Weymouth said, “I don’t know. I don’t predict. Nobody knows.”
What everybody did know, however, is that the old days of journalism are long gone
“We got spoiled,” said Weymouth.
“We used to be really fat and bloated,” said Tyrangiel.
“There’s been a lot of journalism that’s been done over the years that’s not worth a whole lot,” said Westin. “You could have gotten it anywhere.”
Although Westin and others struggled to agree on a successful business model for news organizations going forward, they all agreed that specialization was going to play a crucial role.
“Basically, news organizations have had a strategy of covering the same news that everyone else does but trying to do it better,” said Westin. “That strategy is no longer a successful one. Half to two-thirds of evening newscasts are basically the same.”
Westin cited ABC News’s coverage of 2008’s Hurricane Gustav as a classic example. “We spent over a million dollars and sent 20 people,” said Westin. “And to be honest? We could have played the same footage from the last hurricane and no one would have noticed.”
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Do you find it odd that the Wall Street Journal was failing as much as most newspapers, that is until Murdoch bought the paper. Since, the paper is now the most profitable paper in the country, and subscriptions have quadrupled.
More than 40 Internet sites, and their newsletters had this link:
http://boycottnyt.com/boycott-the-new-york-times-petition
It went on for four years, and many sites still carry the link. This was also true for most liberal leaning newspapers. There was also a campaign for the same with the Big Three broadcast news stations, including CNN and MSNBC. For both forms of news, print and televised media, there are no less than 38 Million signers on these petitions, advertisers began leaving both when there were less viewers and readers fell below their “profit levels”.
Why, because it is no longer considered journalism, even your every day democrat wants to hear the opposing sides of a story, it just is not there. Having both sides of any story is what journalism is supposed to be, but they ignored both sides of the aisle, with the exception of liberals who are the only ones who liked the format, it failed.
Perhaps this is the reason the polls taken by Rasmussen and Gallop showed Fox News to have a 40% viewership of everyday democrats and Independents.
The same thing is happening to Newsweek, Time Magazine, including the others.
Call the Conservative radio stations anything you wish, but the fact is all of them are profitable, which emerged on the scene during the carter years, and grew exponentially over the years and came to a crescendo during the Clinton years. While the democrat and left leaning radios shows cannot maintain listeners…why do you suppose it works out that way?
Wesley: Re:( Radio stations). I tried listening to one of those left wing radio stations one morning, which I happened to stumble across by accident, and I was compltely bored with the show within the first 15 minutes. I can’t remember who the talk show hostess was, but I do remember that the guest was Melissa Ethridge whining that “she still felt like a lonely ship out on the ocean waiting for permission to come in to shore, because Obama had let her down about gay rights, and that she just didn’t feel like going into the shore line to celebrate his election with everyone else. And so the entire conversation was about Melissa’s difficulty to feel completely happy and to move on in life….ad nauseum. And all that the talk show hostess could manage to keep saying was: “Yes, I understand,”, and then she would give a long deep sigh. And then Melissa would sigh deeply back. And then there would be silence for awhile before the same things were pretty much said over again, etc. And so I soon had to continue on to find a lively and logical conservative channel. Anyway, that is my wild guess about one possible reason what their radio shows fail to bring in a lot of listeners ...because they are just so boring, as well as ridiculous !
Diane,
Must have been anything but Conservative Talk radio (Especially with Melissa Etheridge, I do not think she would appear on one), it has been going on almost 10 years since I actively listened to any talk radio. I was a Rush Limbaugh listener for many years. My wife assures me Michael Savage is anything but boring. I remember Limbaugh as being politically intelligent, informed, and entertaining (He has many skits and words substituted to match liberal speak), and even 10 years ago he had 20 Million listeners. Then there is G. Gordon Liddy (IMO is way over the top to the ultra far right). Other Conservative talk radio are; Laura Ingram, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Jon Arthur, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Neal Boortz, Michael Savage, Bill O’Reilly, Dennis Prager and Michael Medved; these are all syndicated Conservative radio hosts, of course half of Fox News afternoon shows also have talk radio. These do not count local talk radio.
In was run of the freeway on my way into work at 4:30am at 75mph directly into a concrete column, I spent 15 weeks in the hospital where they found CML (Leukemia) which left me with little to no immune system, it caused the Leukemia to re-occur. So, if I travel or go to events, I have to take vials of Procrit (an Immune booster). Thus I am pretty much homebound, which is one reason my lack of interest in talk radio, however I do some work for the GOP and the RNC. I do have a well paying job on the Internet, for an actual company.
Now what we have to do is keep obama from destroying our country, we must stop the Cap and Trade, and Universal Health care, or we lose our freedoms.
Re: Post 2;
Your statement:
“...even your every day democrat…”
What, exactly, is an “every day democrat”?
And, I’ve explained this to you before:
A democrat with a lower-case ‘d’ would most properly refer to someone who believes in democracy;
A Democrat with an upper-case ‘D’ would most properly refer to a member of the Democratic Party.
So - are you referring to an “every day person who believes in democracy” - or are you referring to an “every day person who is a member of the Democratic Party”?
(Is it mentally impossible for you to comment on an issue objectively WITHOUT engaging slurs against Democrats, Liberals, and/or those whose perspective is different from yours?)
Post 5:
As I explained to you before, the lower case “d” is meant for disrespect for the liberal democrats who are tuning our country into a socialist state. It is those people in our Government who no longer believe in Democracy!
We already have the Governments hand in our Private companies, and if Cap and Trade passes, it will the the single largest tax in the history of the United States of America. It will be even worse if Universal Health Care passes, when all other countries are moving away from that form of Health Care. Privatization of Health Care are popping up in every country which has Universal Health Care, why do you think so many come to this country to stay alive…The Canadian system reports 13,800 deaths which are preventive. If you get cancer, do you want to wait 8 months to a year for Chemo and/or Radiation treatments?
Why is it I have to keep repeating myself on almost everything you deem to be true in your own mind.
Re: Post 6;
So, in your hallucinatory ruminations, there comes a time where YOU actually come to believe that YOU determine proper English usage?
Do you know what “irrational” means?
How about “delusions of grandeur”?
Watch out, I will call your mother, and you will get another spanking.
Re: Post 8;
Yeah, boy, that’s sure a germane response!
(Right up there with “Your Mother wears engineer boots!”)
tk, it is due to the fact that you act in a childish manner.
Even when anyone is not speaking directly to you, you still attack them, thus getting off topic…in every thread you post in…
Just for the record, the saying is, “Does your mother wear ‘Army Boots’.
If you want respect, then show some respect.
—————————
As for real journalism, read or watched in the Mainstreams is dead as we know it, just in the past 10 years, more lawsuits have been filed against he Mainstream media than in the 100 years before. They have all blurred the line between the lack of journalistic ethics and honesty is why they are failing, that and he fact they have become so leftist that no one gets the whole story.
Remember High School and College, who used to teach us the most important things in journalism were the five “W"s, ‘Who, What, When, Where, and Why…to have no less than two verifiable sources to any given story, and cover both sides.
I will be watching C-Span shortly as the hearing on the EPA where they buried a report discrediting Global Warming. The report was from a senior staff member of the EPA itself, which proved that we have been in a Global Cooling climate for the past 10 years. It was held up well before the vote on Cap and Trade which passed the Congress by 219 to 211. The bill should go back to Congress in light of this criminal act by the government, who told the EPA to bury the report. So much for transparency obama promised.
I find it sad that our liberal government lies to us while looking us in the eye, because as obama said…Yes we can!
Re: Post 10;
Respect?
You are among the most ideologically-disrespectful persons to post in this forum. Your obsessive/compulsive hatred (and ramblings and babblings) of anything you determine (often wrongly) to have some kind of “democrat”, “liberal” or “obama” connection is beyond the pale.
In previous posts you even engage in self-puffery for ostensibly consistently “showing disrespect” to “democrats” and “obama” by using “a lower-case ‘d’ and a lower-case ‘o’”.
Hypocritical, to say the least.
Pardon me, I received an email that someone posted after me.
Post #4 Wesley, I wish you well with your battle with leukemia. It’s so nice that you are able to have a good paying job from home. Have been seeking something like that myself these days since hours at my job have been drastically cut. I listen to , and read as much as I possibly can regarding what is going on inside our govt, and have been for a very long time now. I also have a few favorite radio talk shows, which have served to enlighten me, as well as to encourage me to do more research. I certainly wish that more people would pay closer attention to what is going on in Washington, at least these days. For example, I have felt so frustrated and sad recently that when I mention to people the terrible damage that The Cap and Trade Bill will do to our economy if that gets through, that too many of them quickly respond with, “What is that ?” And then they admit that they have/or had no clue ! It is unbelievable to me how so many people pay so very little(if any at all), attention to important issues that will personally affect the rest of their lives in so many ways. No doubt that some of those are the people who will be shoving the blame on everyone EXCEPT for those who deserve the REAL blame if that bill gets passed ! (Do you know of anyone like that ?...“Wink”! 
Best regards, and take good care!
Post 14: Diane, <smiling> I get your message loud and clear. It is so sad that our mainstream media will not tell the people what is going on. They refuse to explain what these bills are and what effect it will have on all of us. Do they think the American people are that dim, unfortunately I think so…however some are, while others believe everything obama or the media says.
As I have always said, Government cannot create jobs, they are most all construction, which does not help many others. The only way to create real jobs are to allow big business and the majority of small businesses create even more. The only way to get out of this mess is to put Capital Gains taxes back to what they were before obama took over. As for small businesses, both of which are real job creators, 7,800 small businesses have been forced to closed.
Now this prez wants another $800 Billion stimulus, does he or other democrats/liberals actually think it will help after this massive failure, only to repeat what the last one has done to our economy.
We have filed a complaint with Freedom of Information Act to see the books of the records from the Federal Reserve, but were denied without explanation.
My heart goes out to you, but beware of most all ” Work from Home” Jobs are usually scams, most are Pay for Play, then you are not sure you will ever get paid.
The Government’s Health Care is in trouble right now, costing much more than originally thought, so private insurance is still viable. If you have a family or anyone on your insurance with pre-existing conditions (unless you are covered by your husband…if married) then you will be okay till you find new work, if not then you may need to get Cobra Insurance to fill the potential gap (Cobra is pretty expensive, but if pre-existing condition, it is worth it…
If I can help in any way, just let me know.
Good luck,
Wes
Re: Posts 14 and 15;
Obviously, if you want “original” information on proposed legislation, you should check senate.gov; thomas.loc.gov; clerk.house.gov; and, house.gov Each has links to just about anything you might be looking for.
I don’t have any of the URLs handy (and I have heard them given out from time-to-time during broadcasts of the cable news channels), but there are also some NON-PARTISAN websites that display all bills currently proposed and under consideration, along with a track of their progress through the various congressional systems.
Likewise, the various C-SPAN TV channels regularly provide details of current bills and proposed policies, as well as directly broadcasting relevant ongoing hearings in both the House and Senate - and, while I don’t know this for sure and haven’t checked - I believe C-SPAN also provides one or more websites that catalogue and archive ongoing congressional activities relating to budgetary and legislative activities.
You can try theseC-SPAN-connected URLs: c-span.org; cspan.org; cspan.com; c-spanclassroom.org; youtube.com/user/CSPAN; inside.c-spanarchives.org; c-spanvideo.org; booktv.org
Re: Post 15;
You continue to peddle the far-right-wing propaganda that you’ve gleaned from your partisan right-wing sources. You continually bitch about the mainstream media constantly peddling a left-wing bias - but you are constantly peddling right-wing puffery and paranoia while attempting to pass it off as factual. So - to you - two wrongs make a right???
And, you know, it might actually be better for all those “clueless” people you speak about to remain clueless rather than becoming terminally (and wrongfully) brainwashed by extremist ideologues and the paranoid propaganda they peddle.
Post 16:
As Mark Twain once said:
“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
Re: Post 17;
What the hell do I care what an oddball like Sam Clemens masquerading as another calling himself “Mark Twain” said? I didn’t know him - and I can guarantee he didn’t know me - plus - the old coot’s been dead for 99 years already!
(Oh, I get it! You use multiple names in this forum like he did back then, right?)
Actually he went by Samuel, not Sam (All of his writings were under the name Mark Twain). None the less, it is still used widely, and one of my favorite quotes…besides it fits in this instance.
As for names, have you ever heard of the musician; Chris Gaines…if yes or no, have you heard of Garth Brooks?
Chris Gaines is a fictional alternative rock singer created as an alter ego of Garth Brooks for an album with the song “Right Now” as seen here on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7fM_jAmpWw
It was used in the film “The Lamb”, by Garth Brooks’ Red Strokes Productions, and Paramount Pictures.
Unlike some, I do not use other names, proof is in the pudding, the first time I used AIM, I lived in Dallas. I am now in Houston, and have not changed my User ID.
Re: Post 19;
I’m not interested.
(And, re-read your own posts if you want to see some undoubtedly foolish comments. And, you can use all the different names you want; I couldn’t care less where you live; and your AIM user ID could be “mud” for all I care - and I’m definitely not a fan of cowboy or country (or whatever you call it) music.)
Hey, how about Mrs Obama carrying around a $6,000 alligator (?) purse (big designer lable) during her recent trip to Italy ? Why wasn’t the liberal media giving her the same amount of HEAT and attention that they gave Palin for wearing clothes purchased by the GOP on the campaign trail? Even the liberal women on The View were helping to polish Michelle Obama’s golden halo when she told them that she didn’t wear anything expensive and that she only purchased her clothing / accessories from J. Crew !
And Al Sharpeton the other day responded to a woman calling in to his radio show like this :
Woman caller : ” Hey, I think I know why Sarah Palin stepped down from her position as gov during the 4th. It was because she had something to do with the death of M.Jackson !”
The REV. Sharpeton: ” Hmmmm. Interestin’. Well, throw it out there !! ”
Ridiculous , of course….but there he goes , doing what he seems to enjoy most….stirring up trouble ! And that is another thing. Those liberals cannot understand why their ratings are not as high as conservative talk radio shows. Well, it is because they are so ridiculous !!
Why are the liberals and the liberal media so afraid of Palin ? Why do they feel the need to constantly be attacking her ? And why the double standards ? And wasn’t Obama just in Europe recently apologizing for the arrogance and the selfishness of the American people ? But it’s okay for his wife to be carrying around an expensive hand bag, when there are people out of work here and struggling to put food on their tables? What’s with that ?? And what kind of a message does that send to people ? Hmmmmmm. Interesting ! And I just felt like throwing this out there !! This , among so many other more important issues, of course, have been extra irritating to me this past week. But these are my recent gripes concerning the media.
Correction. Just learned from PETA that the purse was not alligator skin, but instead was patent leather. Had placed a question mark in my previous post since I wasn’t certain. Am now curious about the exact price of the handbag. Am now hearing on the radio that it was either $5,890 , or that it might have cost as little as $900.00 ! So guess no one knows for sure. Oh well. Even without the purse in the picture, I have often noted that there are always those double standards with those narcissistic kind of people, no matter what the cost ! “Do as we say, not as we do.”...is the message that comes trough loud and clear to me !
Diane Post 22:
You are absolutely correct when you said, “Even without the purse in the picture, I have often noted that there are always those double standards with those narcissistic kind of people, no matter what the cost ! “Do as we say, not as we do.”...is the message that comes trough loud and clear to me !”
Which goes in hand with your post 21 above about Sarah Palin. During the Campaign, she energized the Conservative Base as no other since Reagan, which scared the liberals to death. All MSM and other liberals have done since is try to label her, put her down, and make up lies about her in the hopes the American People will never like her again. Many times what they say about Palin and her policies would harm the liberal agenda, which is to radically alter the Constitution of these United States. They actually embrace our own people who are America Haters.
Just as many of the released detainees at Gitmo, have gone back to Afghanistan, only to have recently killed many more U.S. Soldiers.
Th larger problem is, liberals have no moral compass, they actually believe that to be otherwise is to the detriment to the US. If you have ever read the book, 1984…not the movie, the book is much more accurate in detail, because it is almost here, it is already here in many ways. Many liberal/Marxists are already trying to change our Constitution as being “Outdated”. Good people in this country are being persecuted for being moral.
July 2 at 4:34 pm | #1 | Link
Like the man says, the good old days of journalism are long gone - replaced, as he says, by the concept of “news specialization” - which means - cater to a selected niche market and give them exactly what they want!
Isn’t that what the “newstalk”, “infotainment” and “bizbuzz” channels, along with right-wing radio, have been doing in recent years?