Another One Bites the Dust
It feels a little bit like reading a suicide note-- seeing a paper publish a report about its own bankruptcy. The Washington City Paper, a once-reliable source for news, investigative stories, nightlife, etc., has thrown up their hands and thrown in the towel.
Well, not quite-- as their FAQ feature explains, "content bankruptcy" means they've got 120 days to get their act together and figure out a way to make money. Trouble is, nobody has figured out a way to make money. Prospects are not good.
They really hit the problem on its head at the end of the FAQ: The only news sources that people use anymore (and thus, the only ones making any money)-- RSS Readers, Blogs, aggregators like Google News and Huffington Post-- don't actually generate any content. Meanwhile, the real sources of news-- old-fashioned newspapers and magazines, and their reporters-- get neither credit nor cash for their work. And reporting is an expensive business! It costs the NY Times half a million dollars a year to keep a correspondent overseas.
The result is the imminent, total collapse of the news industry. The LA Times is cutting reporters right and left, the Washington Post is propped up by Kaplan, and the roof of the TimeLife Inc. building is precariously held up by People magazine, and nothing more.
Anyway, I hope you're happy, you people reading blogs and not newspapers. Seriously, you're ruining America. Get off my blog.
Well, not quite-- as their FAQ feature explains, "content bankruptcy" means they've got 120 days to get their act together and figure out a way to make money. Trouble is, nobody has figured out a way to make money. Prospects are not good.
They really hit the problem on its head at the end of the FAQ: The only news sources that people use anymore (and thus, the only ones making any money)-- RSS Readers, Blogs, aggregators like Google News and Huffington Post-- don't actually generate any content. Meanwhile, the real sources of news-- old-fashioned newspapers and magazines, and their reporters-- get neither credit nor cash for their work. And reporting is an expensive business! It costs the NY Times half a million dollars a year to keep a correspondent overseas.
The result is the imminent, total collapse of the news industry. The LA Times is cutting reporters right and left, the Washington Post is propped up by Kaplan, and the roof of the TimeLife Inc. building is precariously held up by People magazine, and nothing more.
Anyway, I hope you're happy, you people reading blogs and not newspapers. Seriously, you're ruining America. Get off my blog.
posted by Sam at 4:51 PM
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