Narcissim & The Death Of Newspapers

It seems counter intuitive that someone who gave his heart and soul to the newspaper business for over 35 years and destroyed two marriages in the process would not view with horror the slow decline and fall of the big-city American newspaper.

It is indeed sad, but the more I muse on this state of affairs the less sympathetic I become for most especially the owners, but also the big-shot editors. I reserve my sympathy for the poor working stiffs out in the newsroom. This is because those owners valued profits over product and those editors drove their papers away from the core values that today are needed more than ever.

Walter Pincus, the veteran Washington Post reporter, was a lonely mainstream media voice to raise concerns in the run-up to the Iraq war only to have his stories buried on back pages where they were less likely to influence public opinion.

Pincus has now weighed in on the state of a business to which he too gave his heart and soul. The takeaway grafs:

"My profession is in distress because for more than a decade it has been chasing the false idols of fame and fortune. While engaged in those pursuits, it forgot its readers and the need to produce a product that appealed to its mass audience, which in turn drew advertisers and thus paid for it all. . . .

"Today, mainstream print and electronic media want to be neutral, presenting both or all sides as if they were refereeing a game in which only the players -- the government and its opponents -- can participate. They have increasingly become common carriers, transmitters of other people's ideas and thoughts, irrespective of import, relevance, and at times even accuracy."

Will Bunch suggests half jokingly that the solution to journalism's problems would be to clone Walter Pincus. Alas, even if that could be done, it would be way too little way too late.