« Weekend Estimates by Klady - December 28 | Main | BYOBirmingham »
December 29, 2008
Birmingham News
In the big cities and in the media in general, we have a hard time avoiding media myopia. I write about studios that spend scores of millions every couple of weeks to release new films, media titans like the TribCo, NYT, and USA Today, and worry about how big that big should be.
A year or so ago, I vividly remember looking at the Detroit papers during an airport wait and feeling like I had walked into a P.O.W. camp, they were so thin, pained, and hopeless.
A look at this morning's Birmingham News had a less shocking - how time and experience numbs - but equally scary reminder of the future. Section A... 8 pages... 4 locally reported stories on the front page. Not a single additional inch of reporting that wasn't off a wire service... the only additional local work in the section was the row of local editorials, about one- sixth of the 2 page, syndication-loaded op-ed section.
I know... hardly unusual out there. Birmingham ain't Detroit or LA or even many well loved smaller cities on America. But not only is the local news diet thin, but the narrowing of news sources is scary and the inevitability of a print paper, in a city with a clear division of web-accessing monied and print-at-best poor, going away BECAUSE there is so little non-wire reporting, is sad.
Posted by dpoland at December 29, 2008 10:03 AM
Comments
have you read the St. Louis Post Dispatch? it's one of the worst newspapers, filled with right-wing racist garbage and local news, with barely a glance at international news.
yes, I live in St. Louis, god save me.
Posted by: DeafBrownTrashPunk ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 29, 2008 11:15 AM
Is this (newspaper lay offs, cut-backs, etc.) a U.S. only phenom or is it happening overseas as well?
Posted by: Pelham123 at December 29, 2008 02:34 PM
Things are especially bad in France and some shaky situations in the UK. India and China seem to be the countries where an emerging upwardly-mobile class is devouring publications.
Posted by: Ray_Pride at December 29, 2008 07:33 PM
Wouldn't it be awesome if India had to outsource its print film criticism to unemployed Americans who'll work cheaper.
Posted by: LYT at December 29, 2008 07:48 PM
I work for a wire service and the reporting is mostly done from inside the office. If this is the future of journalism be scared...be very scared.
Posted by: eoguy at December 29, 2008 09:09 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)