Who's to blame for the death of newspapers?

Good point.

 

I blame soccer.

And the media conglomerates, of course.

 

That's a good point. But I would say that throwing out another redesign to mask the problem of taking away content is hysterical and fucked, also.

Look at Atlanta now. Orlando, also. Good papers gone bad.

 

Funny thinking that newspapers figuring out ways to help their readers get through the paper quicker helped wean people off of newspapers.

 

i blame yawn and his amazingly short tenure in this business.

 

Don't forget Droopy Boots. Put him in charge, and none of this would be happening.

 

I guess as a designer I'm to blame.

Sorry, guys.

 

I say it's the cliched one-two punch of the Internet. Newspapers lost their hold on classified revenue with eBay and Craigslist. I buy and sell a ton of stuff on eBay for cheap fees. Newspaper classifieds wouldn't compete and it made no sense to advertise within the circulation area when I can put something up to people around the country. Ever really looked at newspapers' job classifieds online? Whether they're on their own or partnered with something like Yahoo, two-thirds are these bullshit scam ads. "Work from home!" Is anyone in classified checking the integrity of these ads or are they just grasping at whatever money they can get?

And, of course, most newspaper Web sites are shit. I know my paper's site is shit. It's hard to find what you're looking for when first visiting. It's frustrating. Links don't work. They either go to "page not found" or a completely different story. The pictures are tiny. Even if they do load, some dumbass didn't upload a cutline so I know what the hell might be going on in the photo. Stories with subheads won't be formatted properly. Sometimes, it's one big fucking run-on paragraph.

And what do managers do? When it's time for cuts, you always see IT/Web people being cut. In-fucking-credible.

Then there's the upper management who only know how to cut from the meat of the product. Fewer reporters, fewer local stories, less value for the money, even if you do get a discount. What other industry cuts away from the product and shines the consumers by saying "you're still getting the same great service" with a straight face? Maybe the cable companies.

Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

 

Bingo Dan-O.

How many times did we hear that the "surveys" and the "focus groups" were saying that people just didn't have time to read the paper. So the answer came down on high: Dumb it down, make it simpler, make the stories shorter so that ... PEOPLE WOULD SPEND EVEN LESS TIME READING THE PAPER.

That's some of the brilliant thinking that has the bidness screwed like a $10 whore.