Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
Rob's description of the New York Times's advice to Democrats fits the Times's entire approach to journalism, I'd say--as also that of every major newspaper in the country with the single exception of the Wall Street Journal.
That's the bad news. Here's the good news. From a report in the Times itself:
In the last year, circulation at The New York Times dropped 5.2 percent on Sunday, to 1.4 million copies, and 8.5 percent on weekdays, to 950,000. The Los Angeles Times declined 7.6 percent on Sunday and 14.7 percent during the week. The Chicago Tribune fell 7.5 percent on Sunday and 9.8 percent during the week....
Compared with a year ago, The Wall Street Journal was up 0.5 percent, the only newspaper among the 25 largest to experience a weekday increase. (It does not publish on Sunday.)
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May '10
Re: Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
I bet if we all clubbed together we could scrape up a dollar and just buy the thing. Ricochet's maiden voyage into print journalism.
This demonstrates that the medium is not to blame. Newspapers are satisfying to read, though I prefer the tabloid to the broadsheet format. And nobody will ever replace books with Kindle. Because Kindle is a pointless invention. Better to watch soccer with a cat than read something on Kindle.
Jul '10
Re: Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
Carlos Slim really jumped the gun buying into the Times. If he'd waited a little longer, he might have bought it for a dollar.
May '10
Re: Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
If a television network showed up at the Super Bowl and only brought one camera, we'd still watch. Why? Because since the dawn of the mass media era content has been king. It is truly a Field of Dreams moment. If you build it, they will come.
One of the best lines I've ever heard came from Charles Krauthammer about FNC boss Roger Ailes, "He's found a niche audience, about 50% of the electorate."
The Times, like a lot of other old media, continue to believe that their decline is solely predicated on the rise and speed of the internet. But as Canadian blogger Kate McMillan likes to point out, that's like saying that the only difference between BS and lightning is the speed at which they're delivered.
If they made a concerted effort to cover the news and not bend it through a prism they might yet recover.
May '10
Re: Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
This would require humility. They're doomed.
Re: Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
Scott's onto something. Look at Fox News. For a couple of years now, Fox has regularly attracted more viewers than CNN and MSNBC combined. How does Fox do it? That's the puzzling part--to me at least. There is no secret. All any producer at CNN or MSNBC has to do to figure out how Fox is beating him is to watch Fox. You can sort of feel for Pepsi, I suppose, since Coke has a secret formula. But Fox? Just turn it on and look, baby. Likewise the newspapers. How does the Wall Street Journal do it? Again, there's no mystery. All anybody at the New York Times has to do is spend a buck to pick up the Journal every day to see how it's done.
CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times--saving themselves would require humility. So?
So they're doomed.
May '10
Re: Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
You're both looking at this wrong. Humility is saying, "My business plan is wrong and I must change to survive."
But in order to survive these people must say, "The market says my world view is wrong and that I must give credence and legitimacy to all that I personally abhor." These people are not going to do that. They would rather lose all that they have labored at and feel that they gave the good fight, did what they had to do and did it the correct way. And then they will tell each other that the mindless dittoheads did them in, the ignorant masses who clung to their God, their guns and Saint Ronnie, and whose racism compelled them to vote against their own economic self interests.
My previous comment about content being king is not relevant to them. They simply believe that they can change the graphics, rearrange the anchors or add more "lifestyle" pieces and they will be fine.
May '10
Re: Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
I bet most of them, at this point, don't believe this, just as, deep down, the Castro
Brothers don't believe that tinkering with their model will bring about a worker paradise. But saving face requires carrying on--pretending, that is--and so they will. Admitting the obvious--that Roger Ailes has it right--requires "giving credence and legitimacy to all that I abhor," as you say, and that requires a humility that these folks will never, ever muster.
Put another way, they're deluding themselves, and late at night when they're staring at the bedroom ceiling, they know they're delusional. But they Just. Can't. Stop.
May '10
Re: Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
No, Scott. They don't know. You are assigning a level of malevolence that doesn't exist. They believe what they believe just as we are sure we are correct in our views.
We are all true believers, yet we sing from different hymnals. Our view says man is an individual, rational and thinking animal who has entered a social contact based on the legal precepts of freedom, equality and justice. They, on the other hand, reduce man to an economic entity. Freedom, to them, is childlike. As parents we provide our children with the Roosevelt freedoms - freedom from want and fear. And as such they see justice, not as something blind, but as a playground monitor who will keep an eye on everyone and make sure everything is "fair." And, of course, equality is equality of economic result.
They believe it and they are going to ride it to the end.
On the other hand, there are also a good number of news people who are in it for the celebrity or are just idiots. I once worked with an executive producer who cheered when they dragged a woman's body from a river because it was good TV.
May '10
Re: Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
Well, at least we agree on the "doomed" part. The exact nature of their illness is secondary, I suppose, since either way, it's terminal. (Though in your scenario, martyrdom might be the better metaphor.)
Aug '10
Re: Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
I think Peter got it right in his heading with the phrase "tone deaf." It's an apt analogy. Lots of "musically challenged" folks are genuinely unaware of their inability to carry a tune. (Consider some of the clueless and sad auditions in the early stages of "American Idol.") Similarly, I think the NYT is oblivious to the reality that the melody it is singing is completely out of tune with the choir.
Jul '10
Re: Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
Peter,
The one thing everyone forgets regarding FOX News and its increasing viewership.
CNN, and MSNBC are included in the BASIC Cable package in the Vast Majority of Cable Markets. That means you get them weather you want them or not.
FOX News is almost never in BASIC Cable, usually in Tier 2, and sometimes in Tier 3 packages.
That means you have to Upgrade to get it.
May '10
Re: Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
No, FNC is always basic. The cable companies are all in the network business, too. And NewsCorp owns DirecTV.
Fox Business is extra.
May '10
Re: Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
I don't think it would work, because they would need to view Fox or the the WSJ through the same eye's as they see the world. The filtering and distortion that effects their "worldview" has a similar effect on the way they view Fox. They would watch and never get the "secret", completely misinterpreting the findings.
Jul '10
Re: Silly, Stupid, Utterly Tone-Deaf and Wrong
EJHill
No, FNC is always basic.
Not here it ain't, or anywhere in the Puget Sound Area.