Why Newspapers Die

The newspaper industry is in a state of precipitous decline. I am at least somewhat conversant with this business as my grandfather published a daily paper. In those days, radio was in its infancy, for all practical purposes, television did not exist except in labs, the Internet was not even a futurist's dream, and the extra was the basic means of delivering breaking news. This was in an era where the voice of the newsboy shouting "extra, extra-read all about it" was replacing the shouts of the town crier who some of the older readers of that day still remembered. Technology has superceded the newspaper as a means of delivering breaking news, and much greater in depth analysis of events is easily obtainable on the web than is offered in the few columns of newsprint devoted to any given story. As retailers retrench to attempt to survive recession, they buy less ad space, and there are less demonstrable results for the advertisements they do purchase as strapped consumers simply spend less. Classified spending has tumbled dramatically as online services such as (and particularly) Craigslist have given people a free widely disseminated forum to promote themselves and their merchandise. Ebay, Amazon, Yahoo and other online resources have hit traditional newspaper revenue streams as well. The single most important factor in my mind as to why the papers are failing is the gratuitous shot they consistently take at traditional values. Papers far from California deemed it appropriate to oppose Proposition Eight(8). This was a slap in the face to the most deeply held
convictions of many of their own readers who in any event had no say in a vote all the way across the country. On issue after issue, subscribers have seen leftist bias, much of it inserted into reportage, that should have been reserved for the editorial pages. They have read almost nothing that reflects their political or moral views. The economic downturn is bad enough, people are not going to pay a premium to be insulted.