Dark day at Baltimore Sun, say critics

[Joanne98]

Even by the sad standard set by newspapers across the country, The Baltimore Sun has had a rough go.

After the latest round of cuts, a newsroom that had more than 420 employees a decade ago now has just 140. At the beginning of the Bush administration, The Sun had 11 staffers in Washington. It has one today. Having previously shuttered bureaus in London, Beijing, and Moscow, the paper in the last few months closed local bureaus, including the one in Annapolis – Maryland's state capital.

In late April, a couple of Sun columnists went to Camden Yards to cover an Orioles game.

By the ninth inning, they'd both been laid off.

Company execs say they're shaping The Sun into a leaner, Internet-ready machine. "Basically, if you're looking to transform yourself, you really better stop looking at yourself as a newspaper company rather than as a digital media company," says Monty Cook, who took over as The Sun's editor earlier this year

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22587.html#ixzz0FmhVrcPz&B

This isn't a bad idea. The "beat" crime reporters only picked on the little people while the fat cats looted the entire country. Also they OVER report (blue collar) crime stories which everyone is sick of except the Nancy Grace viewers.

[Warpy]

1. They picked on the little fish because picking on the sharks

was dangerous to their health and lives. However, once in a blue moon, they did take on a shark and win.

However, no matter what size fish they took on, the news was local and it was interesting to people and that's why they bought the papers.

Now they just rip stories from the wire services, there's little local flavor beyond school sports and weather, and the only other things of local interest are the sale ads.

And they wonder why they're in trouble.

When labor intensive industries start leaning on labor to fatten the bottom line and top management, it means that industry is ready to die.

It's not just newspapers, either.

[imdjh]

2. Whether it is the Baltimore Sun or the Washington Times something much bigger is dying

No, I am not equating the two papers. No, I am not a newspaper junkie getting wistful. Something important is being tossed on the trash heap next to the VCR, the 486, and the cassette tape players.
Physical archives in print. Physical newspapers in piles and clipping files in libraries around the world, are giving way to online versions which go directly to the internet in editable text.

Editable text, that which we longed for and finally got has a huge downside when it comes to archived news. It can be edited. It can be edited for clarity. It can be edited for correction. But it can also be edited days, weeks, and years down the road to change the news and to change history. Yes, there will be cached pages, screenshots, and secure archives by third parties- but it's not the same as a physical paper in box in storage that cannot be changed.

Whether you agree with the politics of a newspaper or disagree with it- there is a function to the brick and mortar building that produces it. There is a function to a downtown structure where you can actually go to confront the news. Where is WorldNetDaily or the Huffington Post? Again, I am not equating the two- except that they share some things in common. Both are discounted by those who disagree with them- but there is no success factor to their existence. They could both come out of the same basement in Peoria or office building in LA, and perhaps not even be aware that the other shares the building. In a world where the public is choosing its truth and increasingly deciding that truth is nothing more than a source you agree with, a big office building and printing plant in an old section of town has a function I can't quite put my finger on, but it's not obsolete in a world where truth matters more than ever.

If Yahoo News runs an incredibly offensive article, or a blatant piece of government or corporate propaganda- where will you go to be heard? A newspaper can refuse to run your letter to the editor- but they have to walk in and out of that building that they have occupied for a hundred years. Where does Joseph Farah or Arianna Huffington work? I have no idea- and it doesn't matter because they can do what they do from Timbuktu as long as the internet connection is up.

I don't know what the solution is, but newspapers that are "saving" themselves by dying more slowly are not the way to go.

[Captain Hilts]

4. The Wash Times is a loser that is financially propped up by Rev. Moon. nt

[Captain Hilts]

3. I bought a copy yesterday and there was little in it. Very sad. nt