Could the 2012 Election be the last for print journalism as we know it?

If print journalism tries to compete with the 90 minute news cycle and coverage of the coverage and rumors, this is the last National Election for print as we know it. Oh, the Times, Post, WSJ and some of the largest cities will still cover elections, but their coverage will largely be irrelevant. If you publish 10,000 words and no one reads it, does it matter?

This is the type of article I expect, as a reader, from my newspaper. And the depth, such as it is, that is not on audio/visual journalism.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/perry-criticizes-government-while-texas-job-growth-benefits-from-it/2011/08/18/gIQAPPZQSJ_story.html?hpid=z1

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has leapfrogged to the top tier of Republican presidential candidates largely on the strength of one compelling fact: During more than a decade as governor, his state created more than 1 million jobs, while the nation as a whole lost 1.4 million jobs.

Perry says the “Texas miracle” rests on conservative pillars that he would bring to the White House: minimal regulation and government, low taxes and a determination to limit the reach of Uncle Sam.

What he does not say is that much of that job growth has come because of government, not in spite of it.

With a young and fast-growing population, a large and expanding military presence and an influx of federal stimulus money, the number of government jobs in Texas has grown at more than double the rate of private-sector employment during Perry’s tenure.

The disparity has grown sharper since the national recession hit. Between December 2007 and last June, private-sector employment in Texas declined by 0.6 percent while public-sector jobs increased by 6.4 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, government employees account for about one-sixth of the workforce in Texas.

The significant role of government in Texas’s relative prosperity stands in stark contrast to the “go-it-alone” image cultivated by Perry, who credits a lack of government interference for fostering a business-friendly environment in Texas.
...

 

The 1996 election was the last for print journalism as we know it.

 

Election or presidential election? Those are vastly different terms. And if you mean presidential, I don't see how the "challenges" of 2012 are any different from 2008.

 

The right, of course, will attribute the Post's reporting on this to a vast left wing media conspiracy.

 

Coverage of a National Election.

So far the internet and cable/satellite news have failed to cover localities better than print. Local TV news has been reduced to weather and crime, little decent political coverage.

 

And they will be just as accurate in their portrayal as Hillary Clinton was in hers back in the mid-90s referring to the "vast right wing conspiracy" that was accusing her hubby of infidelity...