Congeries of cross connected concepts
Speaking of demonstrating a thesis, we’ve touched on the plight of Old Media and its hostility to GOP candidates recently and the last day or so has been quite the storm of anecdotal data. Let’s see —
One is left wondering if the leaders of the industry have any concept of public relations, or value supporting their ideology above that, or just don’t care because they’ve never had to in the past. There’s also the aspect that Old Media constantly calls out the failings of other industries and their leaders, but don’t seem to be able to grasp the concept that such standards should be applied to them as well.
Winds of Change has some further thoughts.
| Hey Skipper Friday, 08 August 2008 at 10:02 |  |
You forgot about the NYT rejecting a McCain op-ed a couple weeks ago.
| Annoying Old Guy Friday, 08 August 2008 at 10:17 | |
I was only looking at things that I read within the last 24 hours. I’d be typing all day if I took a long time frame.
| cjm Friday, 08 August 2008 at 10:23 | |
the left has as much range of behavior as a virus. they behave as they do because it’s the way they are wired. they can no more change what they do and how they react to stimulus, than an individual ant can. the health of whatever host organization they have infected is of absolutely no concern to them.
| Harry Eagar Friday, 08 August 2008 at 22:55 | |
The campaign funding story is a poser, ain’t it?
However, I am having a hard time worrying about the blackout on Edwards, since my little country paper devoted a whole column to it a week ago.
Also, who cares about Edwards, a candidate who never got many votes? Apparently, Rielle what’s-her-name is the only person in America who didn’t reject his advances.
| Annoying Old Guy Friday, 08 August 2008 at 23:01 | |
Mr. Eagar;
Yes it’s a poser. I think it would be even more indicting if there is really an issue that was missed because the writer and his editors couldn’t be bothered to do any actual investigation. Does that total disregard for accuracy bother you at all, or that just something only bashers get excised over?
I don’t care much about Edwards either, but clearly Old Media’s interest is based on how much they like the perpetrator, not the details of the scandal itself.
But what I would like to read your comments on is the “name that party!” issue.
| Harry Eagar Saturday, 09 August 2008 at 02:26 | |
well, I skim the anti-MSM blogs, and I see their fulminations about ‘name that party,’ but I haven’t seen any statistical analysis. Could be cherry-picked for all I know.
When I write about Dan Inouye, I’d consider I was treating my readers like fools if I bothered to identify him as (D-HI). But other reporters routinely put that sort of identifier on the name of any officenholder they name.
Certainly, the AP (or any of the newspaper wire services) ought to identify the party (and geographical district for congressmen) for stories going out across the country. But does the LA Times have to ID Villaragosa as a Democrat? No.
There’s a lot of straining at gnats and swallowing of camels, on both sides. I’m more impressed by critics who find fault on both sides. Like Glenn Reynolds, although his understanding of newspapers is shaky overall.
Anyhow, I’m still waiting for someone to explain what is going to substitute for newspapers.
| cjm Saturday, 09 August 2008 at 08:43 | |
facts.
| joe shropshire Saturday, 09 August 2008 at 10:54 | |
We could start by replacing the L.A. Times with a newspaper. It is a pretty bad sign when you get scooped by the National Enquirer, and the story pans out. [ What story? There’s no story here. —ed ] And there’s your trouble: it sure looks like the Enquirer was the one newspaper out there that behaved like a newspaper, with a story, that they wanted to report, so as to sell some newspapers, which is what you guys are supposed to do. We’ll decide for ourselves what the impact is.
| cjm Saturday, 09 August 2008 at 11:43 | |
given that newspapers are dying (as measured by revenue, subscriber counts, any metric you choose) it behooves one to base their analysis on that. start from the point that they have clearly killed themselves; i.e. you are performing a post-mortem analysis. anyone with a saleable message should be able to make a go of it after the mothership has ceased operation. the hacks of course will be taking whatever governmental jobs they can get into —whoops! those are reserved for affirmative action hires. sucks to be you guys. thanks for playing, better luck next time.
| Annoying Old Guy Saturday, 09 August 2008 at 12:03 | |
cjm;
That’s basically the point Winds of Change makes in the link in the original post.
| Hey Skipper Saturday, 09 August 2008 at 12:29 | |
Anyhow, I’m still waiting for someone to explain what is going to substitute for newspapers.
This.
| Harry Eagar Saturday, 09 August 2008 at 13:46 | |
Nope, no way, Skipper.
Well, OK. If this is all you think you need to know.
You could find substitutes for national reporting and even — though this will be dicier — for international reporting. But so far, and believe me, I’ve looked for it, there is no substitute for local reporting by local newspapers.
You won’t find it on craigslist and you won’t find it on public access TV and you won’t find it on blogs.
| cjm Sunday, 10 August 2008 at 03:49 | |
why wouldn’t the people doing local reporting now, be able to set up in effect, their own little online newspapers? the cost of entry for providing a newspaper like service is now quite minimal. couldn’t you (harry eagar) start one?
| Annoying Old Guy Sunday, 10 August 2008 at 08:59 | |
cjm;
Mr. Eagar doesn’t do well with unplanned activities. In his world, there very little chance or unexpected change. Whatever happens, happens because someone planned it. If no one plans for a local newspaper substitute, it can’t happen.
| cjm Sunday, 10 August 2008 at 12:39 | |
beware the man with a plan.
the thing is, followers are a dime a dozen. the person that can act on his own, has the best chances in life.
| Harry Eagar Sunday, 10 August 2008 at 15:36 | |
How would they eat?
Newspapering is a business, not a charity.
People have, in effect, set up their own little on-line newspapers. They’re called blogs. Very few do any reporting. They just riff off what I do.
I can think of a well-known ad hoc reporter, who goes by the name zombie and gets linked a lot at various rightwing blogs. Her ‘reports’ are just pictures, but she does go to events and provide information about them.
Must be a hobby, I don’t believe she gets any money for it. Even if she runs a tip jar, her stuff gets ripped off, and I can assure you that Charles Johnson isn’t giving her a cut of whatever he makes.
| cjm Sunday, 10 August 2008 at 15:46 | |
was that you reporting from south ossetia? thanks! oh wait, its people with access to news on the ground, in the local language, piping it back to wreetchard and his blog. the data there is superb — at least 10x better than anythnig the msm is reporting. and it is relayed very very quickly, almost real time.
start a little online paper, line up some local advertisers, hire some local kids as stringers, and see what happens. or sit in a dark room, toasting uncle joe with cheap whiskey. either way the world keeps turning, and the sun keeps burning.
| joe shropshire Sunday, 10 August 2008 at 17:09 | |
This world is a tough house to work, Harry. You wake up one day and discover that the thing you’ve been doing for a living all those years, is now being done by people who are content to do it for a hobby. Count on that happening to us as well, some day soon.
| joe shropshire Sunday, 10 August 2008 at 18:11 | |
Think about it this way. What you are telling us is this: you have been doing journalism for forty or fifty years now, you’ve read all those books, you’ve got all that experience, and you are so good at what you do, that a college girl with a camera is a threat your livelihood, sufficient that somebody in government needs to go crack heads and make her stop.
We believe you.
| cjm Tuesday, 12 August 2008 at 09:00 | |
well, i hope harry can make his way through this. in spite of his leftism i don’t wish him any ill will. i recommend joining a church (for harry; i personally don’t care for church :)
| Harry Eagar Tuesday, 12 August 2008 at 13:56 | |
Zombie doesn’t do what I do. Nobody, as a hobby or otherwise, does what I do.
Will market segmentation and destruction of networks ruin the business model of newspapering? Maybe. (I think small households have had a worse effect, to date.) They’ve pretty much ruined the airline business model.
Will people miss newspapers? Yes. The ones who do not read them do already, they just don’t know it.
It ain’t easy reporting. Allowing comments on online stories records and reveals what reporters and editors have always known: People don’t read the stories carefully, they bring their own prejudices to distort what’s printed. And that’s the ones who care enough to spend time with the news.
Half, or better, don’t even do that much.
This cannot be good for trying to run a democracy.
Joe, where have I ever said that somebody in government needs to crack down on original reporting, which is what zombie does? All I ask is that people stop stealing my stuff. Seems like a mild enough request. Banks do it, and I don’t see thousands of aggrieved blog posts about the impending self-immolation of the banks for not getting it on with the digital revolution.
| cjm Tuesday, 12 August 2008 at 14:43 | |
harry, every time someone “steals” your writing they are building a potential audience for your website. it’s up to you to capitalize on this phenomena. or rail against the tide.
| Harry Eagar Tuesday, 12 August 2008 at 19:06 | |
But I don’t want them to steal it. What I write is, mostly, perishable. If they want it, the terms we’re offering is: 50 cents today.
If you want to wait a day or two, we throw the press overruns in the Dumpster and you can fish them out for free, if that’s the kind of shopper you are.
You don’t have to buy, but if you don’t want to, you don’t have a license to steal.
| cjm Tuesday, 12 August 2008 at 19:36 | |
and how’s that working out for you? see that word — “want” — i think that may be your problem; remove it from your vocabulary and mental map. it looks like you have a good seat on the titanic, and are loathe to give it up. in any event, good luck.
| Harry Eagar Wednesday, 13 August 2008 at 11:24 | |
Could we please agree on the theft? You imagine that our problem is that people are linking to my stories.
They are not. They just steal them for their own sites.
Please explain how my employer benefits from that?
| cjm Wednesday, 13 August 2008 at 12:41 | |
yes, it probably is theft.
| Hey Skipper Thursday, 14 August 2008 at 00:11 | |
They’re called blogs. Very few do any reporting. They just riff off what I do.
Gotta admit, that’s about 90% of my blogging.
However, I’m pretty certain that what I do constitutes fair use, not theft.
If I’m wrong, I’ll knock it off.
| David Cohen Thursday, 14 August 2008 at 08:41 | |
On the other hand, Harry, I try to read your blog — I even registered to comment — but the interface is so mind-bogglingly stupid that I get frustrated and give up. I mean, what makes for good blog software isn’t exactly a mystery; it’s available for free to any grandma who wants to recipe blog. How come a newspaper, professionals, supposedly, in the art and science of presenting information in an accessible format, can’t figure it out? I assume some genius decided that this design would generate more ad views, which betrays such a fundamental misunderstanding of people and the internet that it could be a poster child for the entire MSM.
| Annoying Old Guy Thursday, 14 August 2008 at 09:12 | |
And no RSS feed that I could find. I like reading Mr. Eagar’s work, but I just don’t have time to read anything that doesn’t feed me. Such a feed is included in all the weblog packages I am aware of. Heck, my photo website has RSS feeds to announce new pictures for every gallery.
| Harry Eagar Thursday, 14 August 2008 at 17:59 | |
I will print this out for the publisher.
You’re right, the setup was designed to drive pageviews to the home page of The Maui News. It has had the collateral effect of driving people nuts.
Skipper, riffing off newspaper stories in blogs is good. Just lifting stories and planting them on your commercial web site is not.
| Hey Skipper Thursday, 14 August 2008 at 21:48 | |
Harry:
Thanks — since IANAL, I am never quite sure where fair use ends and theft begins.
| Harry Eagar Friday, 15 August 2008 at 01:27 | |
I should first have said, thanks for the kind words.
| Ali Choudhury Friday, 15 August 2008 at 12:48 | |
Yeah, Harry’s blog is really good. Excellent book reviews and some really astute business observations. He should write books.
| Harry Eagar Monday, 18 August 2008 at 18:38 | |
I talked to the publisher. He said to say that he doesn’t care.
In fact, he wants to get the owners to scrap the free on-line paper and go back to what we did at first — first 2 paragraphs on the ‘Net, with a message, “If you want to read the rest of the story, subscribe.”
That hasn’t worked for other papers because — here it comes — somebody will steal the story and post it free.
The publisher says he doesn’t think anybody will take the trouble to scan all Maui News stories. I told him more than one somebody used to do just that before we had a Web edition. This is where we New Dealers would look to government for protection, although I have reason to believe that one of the thieves was a public librarian. Hard to fight city hall.
Anyhow, he doesn’t like Blogger-type interfaces because they don’t leave enough room for display ads.
He and I don’t agree on everything, but we do agree on a Rule of Business: Don’t give away what you’re trying to sell.
He tells me he’s getting too many comments from people who say they are canceling their subscriptions, not because they don’t want the news, but because they can get it for free.
