OT/The local newspaper is headed toward RIP status

[Mr. Pink]

Don't compare the 90 million to population numbers. Compare 90 million to total media eyeballs at both FOX and CNN/MSNBC, and throw in all other TV outlets.

[jlwdm]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

Define “efficient.” And please offer an example.

I won't take your bait.


Jeff

[jlwdm]

Originally Posted by el cheapo

Most people don't read newspapers or watch TV news. I've lived all over the country and this seems to be true across our entire nation. Try to talk about current events or even the weather forecast and people have no clue as to what you are talking about. I can't count the times where I've mentioned that severe weather is forecast and the response is always the same...I didn't know that.

It is hard for me to understand someone would not know about severe weather. I get notifications for any severe weather, plus I am looking at the weather app on my phone a lot.

Jeff

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . is how the inverted pyramid style of news has been turned totally topsy-turvy in pursuit of ad revenue. As journalists, we were taught in school that the most important news should be in the first graph–ideally all five W's and the H.

Now so many stories will have a clickbait headline and you have to scroll down to the very end of the story to get to the point, forcing you to scroll past all the ads first. Do they somehow know if you've scrolled to the bottom and so all those ads count as "views?" I'm not sure, but it drives me up the frickin' wall. Serious news outlets like NYT and WaPo still do it right, but anywhere else it's a sure way to make me never look at that website again.

BBD

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by jlwdm

I won't take your bait.


Jeff

I’m a lover. A raconteur. And a rouleur. Not a fisherman.

One of the big problems with getting your news from “efficient” sources such as Facebook or Twitter etc is that they’re information silos. It’s a huge problem.

[Peter P.]

Originally Posted by jlwdm

It is hard for me to understand someone would not know about severe weather. I get notifications for any severe weather, plus I am looking at the weather app on my phone a lot.

Jeff

Allow me to explain it to you.

Not everyone owns a smartphone (including me) nor cares to get every notification known to man. And quite frankly, this severe weather doesn't warrant such immediate, constant notifications. But we live in a world of FOMO.

[Elefantino]

Reporters at my old paper staged a one-day strike on Tuesday, part of the nationwide outrage at Gannett.

I was fortunate enough to never have been involved in labor issues.

Aside, I'll add this: I can tell by reading stories those that are barely edited. It's more and more. There are still a good layer of good editors at papers like the WP and NYT, but others have slashed editing functions. Even at the Los Angeles Times, the publicist made a point of saying "no creative positions" were cut, just news editors, copy editors and others.

Editing is a creative activity. And it's being lost.

[lavi]

Originally Posted by Elefantino

Editing is a creative activity. And it's being lost.

Or, about to be run through an AI bot.

It's sad what's happening. I don't think our youth knows or cares about any of this.

[mstateglfr]

Woah, posts deleted without mention. Really didn't think they were any 'worse' than what's already in the 5 pages of discussion.

[unterhausen]

I subscribe to Wapo. The digital version is much more difficult to navigate than the paper version. When I was a kid, I would spread out the Roanoke times and read it while eating my bowl of cereal. Always go to page 11 where the real news is. Wapo used to have the real news on page 21, but it's easier to hide things on the digital version.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by mstateglfr

Examples please of these sites where accurate news and information abounds.

I see graphs like the one below all the time, and yet when I read articles from sites that are in the middle peak, I frequently cock my head in distrust and wonder how accurate something is thats been reported.
I am not a conspiracy nut and I consistently consume what one side often calls 'MSM news'. Yet even I get spidey tingles a lot of times.
Also, these are major news outlets and not local. The lack of local journalism is what I think a lot of people lament.

I look at NPR, Daily Camera(Boulder) and Heather Cox...Plus some YouTube sources.

[XXtwindad]

Disturbing read today in my news source of choice.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/24/b...s-decline.html

“The pain is particularly pronounced at the community level. An average of five local newspapers are closing every two weeks, according to Northwestern University’s Medill School, with more than half of all American counties now so-called news deserts with limited access to news about their hometowns. Of 1,100 public radio stations and affiliates, only about one in five is producing local journalism.”

As a tragically funny addendum, my partner’s nephew saw me reading the newspaper and said “what’s that?” He knew what it was, of course, but he just didn’t know anyone still read a newspaper.

[yngpunk]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

Disturbing read today in my news source of choice.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/24/b...s-decline.html

“The pain is particularly pronounced at the community level. An average of five local newspapers are closing every two weeks, according to Northwestern University’s Medill School, with more than half of all American counties now so-called news deserts with limited access to news about their hometowns. Of 1,100 public radio stations and affiliates, only about one in five is producing local journalism.”

As a tragically funny addendum, my partner’s nephew saw me reading the newspaper and said “what’s that?” He knew what it was, of course, but he just didn’t know anyone still read a newspaper.

It has been said that if there was a "local" news organization to investigate George Santos' background when he was running for office, things might have turned out differently

[Ralph]

I had the Orlando Sentinel delivered to my driveway for over 50 years. But it has become more and more expensive to get it that way. (and probably more and more expensive for the Sentinel also), So I made myself get accustomed to reading it on my phone early every AM, and only get Sunday paper in driveway. Have grown to prefer reading it on phone. Cost is way less now to me and I hope they can continue in business like this. I know it costs them way less to give to me in digital form. I would like to stop Sun delivery, but wife likes it.

[Davist]

Originally Posted by yngpunk

It has been said that if there was a "local" news organization to investigate George Santos' background when he was running for office, things might have turned out differently

on this point, see Marion Berry getting re elected in DC in the 90s when people still had newspapers (somewhat).. anyway-

My dad kept a paper copy of the Buffalo Evening News until a couple years ago. The subscription price was near (not kidding) $1000/yr when he finally gave it up. He had/kept the online version but did like the paper. I was disappointed as it was all wire feeds and not much other than obituaries locally.