Month: December 2008

  • Why people read newspapers

    Quote from a 1959 movie. An editor tells a reporter about newspapers: You know what people use these for? They roll them up and swat their puppies for wetting on the rug. They spread them on the floor when they’re painting the walls. They wrap fish in them. Shred them up and pack their two-bit…

  • Online audience growth: not a solution to newspapers’ problems?

    There’s an interesting look at the problems of newspapers online by Robert Ivan at Seeking Alpha, focusing on the New York Times. I don’t know about the assumptions – I’ve seen the cost of the NYT’s newsgathering put at $200m – and I’ve simplified it a little, but here it is: Despite the highest readership…

  • Unrequired Reading {7.12.08}

    These are some of the things that have caught my attention lately. It’s a more eclectic mix than just the news business, but then so’s life:

  • More thoughts on journalism and democracy

    More food for thought on journalism and democracy. Should people be made to watch the news? Have a look at the conclusion to this article, Free Falls, High Dives, and the Future of Democratic Accountability [pdf] by Scott Althaus.