Cageliner

This past March U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) introduced The Newspaper Revitalization Act; a proposal that would essentially allow newspapers to opt-in to a federally-funded program that would require them to be non-profit organizations. The press releases from the Senator's office notes the demise or drastic reduction in publishing frequency of a number of newspapers. These include the now Web-only Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Rocky Mountain News, the Baltimore Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle. A number of these are well-respected publications with long histories and they have, like a number of smaller papers, either ceased daily publication or ceased entirely. Read more

Oh, journalism school. You require me to run through a series of seemingly inane exercises in the hopes of molding me into something that I’m not. While that sounds more difficult than it probably is, over the last few weeks, I’ve listened to you explain the difference between features, news stories and reviews. The only problem is that there really seems to be very little that separates each type of story.

I’ve done as you’ve asked. I’ve even gone to see art that I don’t care about. So I hope that it all pays off…Klat readers…see the differences?

5 Feature Ledes

- Presented only as a study for a future work, Joseph Albers’ nestled brown squares actually appear to be a fully formed painting. Read more

Recently everyone is talking about the death of newspapers.  Many people seem sad about this, but I honestly couldn't care less if newspapers die.  I believe newspapers have been pointless for the past decade.  The sooner they go, the better.  In fact, if I was to never see another newspaper again, I would not have any regrets.   Read more

According to the Newspaper Association of America, newspaper ads have taken a huge dive in the first quarter of 2009—a whopping 30% decline compared with last year’s sales.

But online revenue has also fallen—though a less dramatic cut at 13.4%. In fact, online news sales are even being compared to airlines in their price discrimination.

In both print and online media, the biggest drop was in classified sales, an area that has seen a 42.3% cut. And who can blame people for not buying ads these days when there’s Craigslist and other free ad hosting services available?

Media analyst jack Myers says that this is just the beginning. He’s predicting another round of losses at 22.5% this year. Read more

Like many people, I think the decline of the newspaper is a slow, agonizing death of something wonderful in this country, something that not only employs many people but also served as our main news source since the invention of the printing press—and serves as the main reading material for so many today. Read more

I've been watching the first two seasons of Babylon 5 of late on Hulu, where they're currently available for free as streaming (Flash-based) video. Babylon 5 B5 Kioskis an SF show that's no longer aired, but that I'm exceedingly fond of. It's set in 2025, on a space station. In an episode of Season 2 called "Divided Loyalties," at the very start of the episode, two characters meet at a newspaper kiosk. Each carries a printed paper from the previous day, which is deposited in a slot in the kiosk. A digital voice acknowledges the paper to be recycled and crediting their account. The voice then asks questions about the content they wish to be included in that day's paper. They each answer in turn, wait a minute, and a printed, familiarly shaped newspaper drops into a slot at the base of the kiosk. Read more

Death of a Great American Hero – The Newspaper

“But o’ where shall we ever get our news!?!”  This question is but one of many surrounding the decline of the once great information giant, the American newspaper industry.  With many papers already closing shop some of the big players, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are finding themselves in deep water.  So who is killing them?  What should we do about it?  And perhaps most importantly, should we just let it die? Read more

After 146 years in print, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has officially ceased producing hard copy periodicals. The March 17th 2009 issue of the P.I. marks the end of an economically troubled period in the publication's history. The Post-Intelligencer began in 1863 as the Seattle Gazette. After a rocky start and an initial failure, the paper came under new ownership as the Weekly Intelligencer. By the 1880's the W.I. merged with the Seattle Post to become the Post-Intelligencer. In the 1920's, William Randolph Hearst's news giant, the Hearst Corporation, took over the P.I. and it has run it ever since. HC's ownership lent the previously liberal paper a decidedly conservative voice, even going so far as to frustrate the Roosevelt family's ties to its editorial staff in the 1940's. Read more

After nearly 150 years in print, The Rocky Mountain News will publish its last edition Friday, February 27^th. For many who have worked for the paper, this will mean the end of the line for a Denver classic, and a turning point for US history in the state of Colorado.

Read more