The Traveler

These sentiments give me hope for the future.

But bad reporters are bad reporters, regardless of the medium for which they report. For whatever reason(s) -- lack of talent, laziness, ethical/moral lapses -- bad reporting is bad reporting.

For good or ill, newspapers are falling by the wayside and not just because of the tremendous onslaught of the internet and its ability to deliver specialized content to specialized audiences (in part, telling people what they want to hear).

No, the newspaper industry is a victim of its own greed. During my 30-year career I've seen strong and well-respected papers sold by long-time owner-families to chains whose stockholders later sold out to mega-chains or other corporations.

These mega-companies not only cared less about providing objective (or at least fair and unbiased) coverage of local and state government -- they insisted on a 15 to 20 percent annual profit. Newspapers did deliver such profits for many years, but few do now. Depending on the market and state of the economy, many newspapers still deliver a solid eight to ten percent profit. But that's just not good enough for investors demanding ungodly quarterly dividends.

The result has been staff layoffs and decline in local coverage (quantitatively and qualitatively). General Motors took the same damaging approach to its products in the 1980s, when the paint would wash off a new Cadillac three weeks after purchase.

This is what happened to The Arkansas Gazette when Gannett bought it. They filled it with fluff and drove it into the ground. The same thing happened when Gannett bought the local TV station in my home town. Stories got shorter, features flooded the news hole, blaring music and garish graphics set the tone. Worst of all, two Hollywood-type anchors took over who knew absolutely nothing about the area and had no sources (although one of them actually had a journalism degree).

Things changed when the local newspaper sold out to a chain, too. The absolute low point (so far) came when the publisher agreed to chair a committee to rebuild confidence in the chamber of commerce. That happened when the chamber's executive director moved on to another job and the board of directors found the chamber was all but bankrupt.

So, right on, Clint. Continue encouraging the public to keep its eyes on the information prize and leave the BS alone.

Greg Brown
Assistant Professor of Broadcast Journalism
Department of Mass Communication and Theatre
University of Central Arkansas

You know, it is very unfortunate that the journalism industry has suffered the way that it has. I do think that many journalists should have become more open to the online transition and could have put themselves in a much more lucrative position if they would have adapted.