Cash-Poor Newspapers Decamp From Washington

Journalism faces a challenge, but hardly a disaster

(NEWSER) - We know it’s coming, that day when print newspapers cease to exist, but it won’t be this year, right? Maybe, maybe not, Michael Hirschorn writes in the Atlantic, and it wouldn’t necessarily be a disaster. The New York Times is in trouble—it could default on $400 million in debt come May. “Sooner than most of us think,” the Times will be digital-only, Hirschorn predicts. More»

Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell top the list

(NEWSER) - Who are the real power brokers in Washington? GQ names the top 50 in its biennial list of the most powerful people in DC—although, the magazine notes, "People with the last names Obama and Biden not included." The top five:

• Eric Cantor: The House majority leader is definitely the Democrats' least favorite Republican; you can thank him for Washington's hyper-partisanship and inability to compromise. GQ notes that he is widely expected to follow—or even push aside—John Boehner as speaker of the House.
• Mitch McConnell: "Even Cantor has to go through this guy eventually," thanks to his position as Senate minority leader.

Both parties on notice, speaker warns

(NEWSER) - A mob of Tea Partiers chanting "Remember in November" descended on DC yesterday for another major rally in the nation's capital. Speakers put both Democrats and Republicans on notice that the movement is a force to be reckoned with, CNN reports. "I believe we've gotten the Republican Party's attention," boasted a march organizer, referring to surprise wins in Kentucky and Alaska. The Tea Party's latest hopes are pinned on come-from-way-behind "anti-masturbation" Delaware candidate Christine O'Donnell, who's facing off against a long-time GOP congressman in the Republican primary for Senate tomorrow. More»

Rise of Web searching spells doom for clever newspaper headlines

(NEWSER) - Back in the day, "drunks with cigars wrote stories," overeducated wiseguys slapped snappy headlines on them, and some hours later, a newspaper appeared on your doorstep. In Internet time, that printed birdcage liner might as well be carved on stone tablets. "Call me a grumpy old codger," two-time Pulitzer winner Gene Weingarten writes for the Washington Post —don't worry, we will—"but I liked the old way better." More»

(NEWSER) - As newspapers hemorrhage cash, the refrain is getting louder: the Web is sucking away their audiences and can never replicate the serious journalism they offer. The argument sounds familiar, Jack Shafer writes for Slate: It’s the one newspapers used against radio 80 years ago. Radio was then seen as the death of print, delivering reports instantly and allegedly cheapening the “sacred rhetoric” of written journalism. More»