Propagating Fear

[faucon9]

I don't know exactly when it happened, but sometime ago I decided to secede from politics. On either side of the coin, you have idiots in "independent media" that are using the very same tactics as major media outlets to spread a message.

Chew on this excerpt for just a moment:
A survey of the carnage: The Charlotte Observer will cut 123 jobs, or 11

Comments

[mantispid]

Isn't part of the reason that more and more people get their news online instead of in print form?

[faucon9]

That's the thing - newspaper subscriptions haven't dropped, except for newspapers that were already having subscriber problems (likely because they suck).

Costs have gone up for newspapers, plain and simple. They're not minimizing the size of the newspaper, thinning the paper itself, and increasing subscription fees because they can't get readers - those would all be horrible decisions if they're trying to win new subscribers. Oil has gone up, and it's kicking newspapers in the distribution groin.

The people who read papers 10 years ago still do for the same reason - they like sitting at the breakfast table with something solid, portable, and informative in their hands. They also feel that online news sources aren't as credible, and will suffer through the higher prices to have what they prefer.

The only time online consumption spiked was during the writer strike. Television consumers are the ones going online, not newspaper readers.