Kids Enjoying a Summer Day
My answer, is a resounding “Yes!”
Newspaper readership started its downward spiral in the 1980s and continues at a crazy pace today.
Ok, so the Internet is partly to blame. But I don’t think this paints the whole picture. Instead of embracing the online frontier as exciting and fresh, the powers that be have lived in dread and ignorance.
Newspapers have always naturally dated themselves. A daily is only new and useful until the the next issue is distributed the next day. Take yesterday’s issue and shove it under your bird cage! Who needs it? Tomorrow you will be presented with brand new news.
The Internet holds the answers. Think of it as a much-needed mouth to mouth recessitation with a limitless breathe of fresh possibilities. Old dinosaur media is failing fast. Nothing less than thinking outside the box will save it.
Now I’m not about to relinquish the ideas that have rattled around in my head for the past two years. But sometimes the new girl on the block does comes up with a winner.
I can hear you loud and clear, “You must be insane! You propose to publish a paper in a city of 940,000 people that is already saturated by a conglomerate!”
Let’s not forget the two smaller organizations: Media News and Silicon Valley Community News that publish at minimum, a combination of 16 papers.
Ok. I’m a hard head. A glutton for punishment. But I love to write, been doing it in one form or another for 30 years. And I’m tired of complaining so I’ll take up the challenge and see what happens.
People constantly complain about the media. I join in their disappontment when I pick up a paper, a shrinking paper. Shrinking in size and span of valuable information. It seems that the original purpose has gone out the window: to inform citizens. The add-on purpose of ”entertainment” which supplies all the gossip and Hollywood news isn’t increasing readership either. No slam to Hollywood, but we can feed our curiosity with Cable TV and magazines.
It seems increasingly that the mission of newspapers is to guard their bottom dollar.
Of course, this is a business that needs to make money. But it seems that the original intent of informing the public has been completely replaced with the need to please multi-million dollar advertisers and stockholders.
Sadly, the only group that gets served by newspapers is the CEOs who draw bonuses for failure. When a paper runs into trouble and needs to cut expenses, the first thing to go is the reporters.
Certainly, something else can go. Oh, I don’t know…….for instance…maybe the BONUSES! Ten Jaguars, four summer homes and six yachts will have to do! Scale back on the luxuries Mr. and Mrs. Summer-In-the-Hamptons!
Let me run a hair styling shop. I’ll open up with one stylist and 12 auto mechanics. Maybe I’ll throw in a palm reader because she works cheap and mops the floor for free. And how about if I let my neighbor set up a table to sell pot holders. How many customers looking for hair cuts will be happy with my shop? Not many.
Maybe newspapers need to return to the base it was founded for: the people. What about school news? We cut our school funding each year but we don’t hear all that schools are doing or not doing. How do teachers deal? We ask them to do more with less.
If you need your car washed you could help out a school. But first you need to know where to take your car. Have junk to sell? Maybe your neighborhood learning institution is holding a flea market. Not very sexy, but you might like to know these things.
Do you have lots of extra time on your hands? Would you like to feel useful? So would many other people, only they don’t know where to sign-up.
Whew! I’m all ranted out. Mais amanha.
San Jose Independent News – Celebrating a Community of People
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