Less jobs for newspaper reporters and editors, less stories, and more deterioration of the already yellowing pages of your L.A. Times come naturally after Tribune Company privatizes. $8.2 billion at the mercy of Sam Zell puts him in the big, black chair of L.A. Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and others. Thus, when Sam Zell and his multi-billion dollar company take control, it'll be hard to generate honest, value-driven journalism when economizing is at Zell's best interest.
Not that journalism is entirely honest nor value-driven nowadays. Even Nick Madigan, staffing the Baltimore Sun and hosting Minding the Media on KCRW, describes the upcoming changes with great doubt.
"In newspapers, fewer reporters, smaller pages and shrinking budgets mean that you, dear reader, have less to read. If you care."
Is it the writers? Or the readers? I think it works reciprocally. Of course Madigan is going to scold KCRW listeners! Though subtle, and with the best interest for journalism in its entirety kept in mind, I was initially offended by that last statement.
But he has a point. While the newspaper industry is struggling to maintain readership, the internet and other alternative media news sources gradually earn more of an audience. When you have blogs like Boing Boing and, ahem, Team Forest Fire, catering to specific, A.D.D.-esque news, the wordy and ad-concentrated L.A. Times doesn't look too appealing.
But fear not! Journalism is not dead. It's just evolving, and newspapers are dying out. Thanks to natural selection, choosy news junkies naturally choose other news sources.
Please see KCRW's Minding the Media segment and Tribune's press release for more info.
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