More In An Endless Stream Of Bad News For The MSM

It saddens us to bring you this story from today's top links, but we would be remiss if we did not: For newspapers, 2005 will be the worst year ever, like we say here on the web, as their advertising dollars and circulation dwindle. Fewer and fewer people are in the habit of reading physical newspapers these days, and more and more are in the habit of looking at their online versions or just gleaning news from a broad range of sites across the web. (Most intelligent readers, for example, now make daily visits to BlogPulse.) It's too soon to say what effects the slow death of newspapers is having on our democracy, but it's not too soon for bloggers to issue their reactions. "Who can be surprised? It will be just that much harder for the media to control what the population thinks," writes AffectingMyLife. Some are slightly more charitable: "But newspapers and online media should not be seen as competitors–they should be looked at in a sybiotic relationship. Bloggers need newspapers (because they get access and have the time to gather “facts”) and newspapers can benefit from bloggers–for story ideas, to keep them honest, and to know what smart people in their communities are thinking about," submits the Boi from Troy. Fair enough.

Posted by Philip Ewing at November 2, 2005 11:40 AM

Category: The Dead-Tree Scene