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Newspapers of the World, Unite: Carr

Collusion could avert disaster—but it won't happen

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 9, 2009 9:57 AM CDT

(Newser) – The newspaper industry is in dire straits, and to fix it, its bosses must “hold hands and jump off the following cliffs together,” writes David Carr in the New York Times. First, end free web access; it will drive away some readers, but they're not paying for quality reporting anyway. Second, aggregators like Google and Newser shouldn’t get a “free ride”—though that could mean angering the search king.

Third, proliferation of cheap ads must get the axe; limiting space will drive up rates as it did in print. And fourth, overturn the anti-trust legislation that prevents papers from combining. “It's time that newspapers are allowed to collude in the public interest,” an analyst tells Carr. Otherwise, there may be little left to regulate. “One is better than none” when it comes to city papers. If they don't find a viable revenue model, Carr concludes, it's "not a business problem; it’s a civic one."

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (1)]

A projects reporter at the Rocky Mountain News cleans out her desk in the newsroom after the final edition of the Rocky Mountain News was published in Denver on Friday, Feb. 27, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Newspaper boxes in Radnor, Pa. The owner of Philadelphia's two major daily papers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday, Feb. 22, 2009. (AP Photo/George Widman)

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What is under attack is the fundamental machinery of the Fourth Estate, not just the local newspapers that some love to hate and others, including many young consumers, are indifferent to. - David Carr

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 4 comments

Guest

Mar 9, 2009 5:04 AM CDT

Quality is an issue, but aggregators condensing and cutting other people's work products to use on their site - i.e. Newser - is blatantly unfair. I realize that many news organizations do not live up to their role of adequately watching over corrupt government officials, but there has to be a better way. Online content should not be free. A journalist/reporter/writer has to pay his rent too. "Today, I get my best news from exclusively online magazines, blogs and aggregators," Forderon said. Where do you think the blogs and the aggregators get their material? Some blogs offer amazing analysis and insight, and some original reporting. But many do not. Online magazines are great too, but paying people enough to live on is a tough proposition.

Forderon

Mar 8, 2009 11:17 PM CDT

Nailed it. The industrial model is why we are where we are. The military-industrial complex, the meat-industrial complex, the auto-industrial complex, etc. How about delivering quality! It's still free-market, but when you compete on quality, companies have an incentive to make better products, not cheaper, and thus crappier, products. Today, I get my best news from exclusively online magazines, blogs, and aggregators. They should've learned this stuff a long time ago.

AnnieChrist

Mar 8, 2009 10:49 PM CDT

Of course, "quality" is never mentioned as a possible solution to their plight. Newspapers have adopted the American industrial model: make it cheap, make it shoddy, worry about wall streets opinion rather than your customer's opinion. Although the media market is so vastly different than it was 30 years ago, and true comparisons are difficult, I can't help but think of the major paper's handling of the Watergate and Pentagon Papers scandals of the Nixon years vis a vis their handling of similar stories of corruption in the last administration. Every event in the octuplet mom's life is treated as front page worthy, some rapper kicking his girl friend around, Brad and Angelina are treated likewise, but wire taps on our phones, denial of habeus corpus, US Attorneys fired because of their politics, rampant corruption in every sector of the financial markets are events hardly worthy of investigation and reporting by the nation's news organizations. Years ago there were papers for 'enquiring minds' known as tabloids, and there were 'serious newspapers' for the consumer who wished to be actually informed about important events affecting our lives. Today, there is very little difference between the national inquirer and any other 'major' daily paper. The only difference is that the Enquirer has not become a fourth branch of the government, aiding and abetting government in its ineptness and corruption, as has the NY Time, WaPO, and every other BSMedia outlet in this country.

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Newspapers of the World, Unite: Carr