Tonight on "Real Sports"

That was an awesome piece. And it's still a great show most of the time, but this was one piece that missed, for all the reasons you guys have already stated. Definitely should have gone with a different reporter in this case, and the interview subjects and interviews were just lame.

 

Everyone from APSE was busy eating donuts.

 

And talking about Garry Howard.

 

Is there a link to the video anywhere? I missed it.

 

While I am normally a big fan of Real Sports, they totally missed the story here. The issue is not the Internet. Most good newspapers and sports sections were holding their own during the first 10 years of the Internet.
The problem is the ECONOMY. Anyone hear of the RECESSION? That's what has caused the big problems for newspapers. That was not even mentioned, not once in the report.
You can argue that Internet sites such as Craig's List, etc., have hurt newspapers because of the loss of classifieds, but the reason so many papers are facing debts and laying off people is because AD REVENUE is down, not because people are turning to web sites for their sports news.
Now, once the papers start laying off folks, slashing salaries and cutting space, good writers and columnists have bolted for other opportunities, and readers are finding them on line.

But, no one should know better than HBO, Sports Illustrated, AOL, etc., that the underlying problem newspapers face began with the economic downturn. People aren't buying houses, so they're not buying furniture or appliances, so advertising shrinks, etc. etc.

I can't believe how that wasn't mentioned.

 

It definitely could've been better. I thought it was more self-serving because Jay is going to AOL and KC's best is going to SI.

 

Agree it's a factor and should have been included.

But the recession has been more of an accelerant of newspapers' demise than a cause. Circulation declines, demographic problems and ad syphoning by the Internet all were in play before our economy tanked. Whatever bounce publishers and editors are banking on from an uptick in the financial climate at large sure ain't going to be Wham-O Super Ball-like. More shot put-like.

 

To wit, from Business Week:

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/economicsunbound/archives/2009/09/the_journalism.html

This is, of course, employment in the newspaper industry. Basically, this is an industry in decline since the beginning of the 1990s.

In terms of job loss, the newspaper industry looks remarkably like manufacturing.

 

I agree that it was a simplistic treatment of the problem. But that's because it's my industry. I wonder if the horse in the Bernie Goldberg piece feels the same way.

 

Echoing the Bernie fans, his stud horse piece and the one on the lone survivor of the Gulf of Mexico capsized boat were equally compelling, yet thrill-of-victory, agony-of-defeat opposites. Not many can pull that off that well.

 

This is the inarguable truth

 

I don't think the economy has much at all to do with the current state of newspapers.
My father-in-law (73) was looking for a used car the other day and how there were so few listed in his paper. I showed him Craigslist. He was blown away.
Also on the HBO piece, Deford let old pal Walsh off way too easy.