The slow death of the great American newsroom

Solid Guardian piece on the demise of the American newsroom, with a photo gallery.

The slow death of the great American newsroom | Art and design | The Guardian

 

3OF, that's a good (but sad) read. Thanks!

The odd thing to me is that story was carried by a UK platform. I would have thought someone in the US would have carried that particular Philly story first.

 

Vombatus-
The Brits are less reticent to point out the ill health of our traditional institutions.
Somehow, though, The Guardian isn't on life support.
I saw a story yesterday that print media is thriving in rural India.

 

Come to think of it, it's been a while since I've seen some old fart opine about why he "still believes in newspapers" on Romenesko.

 

Whenever I see old pictures of thriving newsrooms or watch an old movie like All the President's Men or even Superman (they showed the inside of the Daily Planet often) I always lament that I entered the business in 2007. My second job was a 100,000 circulation and it still kind of resembled the thriving days but even then there were pockets of empty desks, including one adjacent to my desk that repeatedly warned me to not get to comfortable.

 

As tough as it's been to see the decline, I'm grateful to have witnessed a thriving newsroom in the early 90s located in the heart of a downtown American city, where you could feel the press runs begin and take home the work you did at the end of a night shift. I feel bad for those that won't have those memories.

 

It was great in the '80s, but then it went too far.

 

Poynter ran this story two years ago. And it wasn't the first. Photos of Philadelphia Inquirer newsroom show challenges, determination | Poynter.

 

Great post. The first few years of my career in the early '80s were spent in a newsroom that had a clattering AP teletype machine, a constant cigarette stench that lingered even when the room was vacant, and massive stacks of paper on almost every desk. I don't really miss the noise and definitely don't miss all that smoke, but I do wish my younger colleagues could have experienced the exciting atmosphere. It's impossible to get that feeling in a room that looks like an insurance office, with dozens of empty desks and an off-site printing facility.

 

Buh-bye.

 

Good story, 3_O_F ... and a cautionary tale for other industries:

 

95-year old Sid Hartman's column on the old Minneapolis Star Tribune building, which is closing its doors Friday and will be torn down this summer: Sid Hartman: You will be missed, 425 Portland Av. | Star Tribune