An Insightful Analysis and Prediction on the Future of Newspapers From Reader Gregg Warren

Published Apr 22 2009, 10:52 AM by Steven Stark

I read your comments in the essay "Man Bites Newspaper."
I just see something different. Here in Wisconsin local newspapers have
been bought out by large media corporations like Gannett which are now
failing. I've seen any number of fair quality papers going to dust
because they have become trivialized rags used to push insert
advertising. It's a formula. Hire young inexperienced journalism
majors, cover local news of no controversy or content, throw in an insert negotiated with a big-box mega chain one-size-fits-all (of your 30 "local" newspapers). The product is junk.

Think hopeful. Thirty years ago there were a handful of major breweries
left in the US. Now how many breweries are there? Quality and
competition have improved, drastically in some cases.

I see a whole lot of small weekly papers of some real quality springing
up here and there. We have a great weekly, sprung from the ashes of the
staff of experienced journalists turned out to pasture by the bean
counters at Gannett. Our daily is nearly dead. The weekly is gaining on them slowly but surely, gaining one advertiser at a time, more subscribers every week. Consider it may be change not death.