Why would anyone want to buy a newspaper these days? This is the question originally raised by my recent Harper’s magazine investigation into the state of the newspaper industry and now resurrected by this weekend’s New York Times report on the possibility of Koch Industries buying the Tribune Company’s eight newspaper properties. The answer is that for all the problems they face, newspapers still offer something extremely valuable to a particular kind of investor – just not what they might publicly admit to because it is more than a bit unseemly.In public, of course, prospective newspaper buyers continue to pretend that they are primarily interested in purchasing newspapers either to 1) preserve a venerated civic institution and objective journalism or 2) to seize an honest, straightforward business opportunity.Continue Reading… … Read More
Koch brothers’ real plan for media domination
Why would anyone want to buy a newspaper these days? This is the question originally raised by my recent Harper’s magazine investigation into the state of the newspaper industry and now resurrected by this weekend’s New York Times report on the possibility of Koch Industries buying the Tribune Company’s eight newspaper properties. The answer is that for all the problems they face, newspapers still offer something extremely valuable to a particular kind of investor – just not what they might publicly admit to because it is more than a bit unseemly.In public, of course, prospective newspaper buyers continue to pretend that they are primarily interested in purchasing newspapers either to 1) preserve a venerated civic institution and objective journalism or 2) to seize an honest, straightforward business opportunity.Continue Reading… … Read More
Koch Brothers eyeing Tribune company
Word has circulated since at least March that the libertarian leaning, Tea Party backing Koch brothers wanted to buy the Tribune Company, the struggling newspaper outfit that owns the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and several regional papers. The New York Times reports today that gaining influence in the media is part of the brothers “three-pronged, 10-year strategy to shift the country toward a smaller government with less regulation and taxes.” The other two prongs are “educating grass-roots activists and influencing politics.”The Times reports:Continue Reading… … Read More
AP Ditches ‘Illegal’ Label
The Associated Press announced a change in their style guide: The wire service will no longer refer to “illegal immigrants,” except in direct quotes. The change is a victory for activists who have called for years for journalists to stop using the term. … Read More
Tribune media company to emerge from bankruptcy
Tribune Company, a US media conglomerate whose assets include The Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times newspapers, announced that it will successfully emerge from its bankruptcy restructuring Monday. “Tribune will emerge from the bankruptcy process as a multi-media company with a great mix…
Objectivity and Its Opposite, ‘Objectivity’
One of the most confusing terms in the media discussion is "objectivity." In philosophy, it refers to a belief in a reality independent of the conscious mind, generally one that can more or less be known and meaningfully discussed. In journalism, on the other hand, it means "don't scare away any potential customers." "Objective" journalism emerged as newspapers realized that they were alienating potential readers by positioning themselves as a paper that saw the world through the lens of a particular party. Why be a Whig paper or a Tory paper, in other words, when you could be an independent [...] … Read More
