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If newspapers are dying then why is there a bidding war going on for one?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-2-phil-rosenthal-tribunemay02,0,7491131.column
http://www.chicagotribune.com
Friday, May 2, 2008
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6 comments:
It's an interesting article and the author Phil Rosenthal is a alumnus of UW. Anyway, I don't whether bidding wars are a good thing for the industry because that reveals the mask that corporations try to keep concealed. These bids show the true colors of the industry. That is it's an entity designed to generate money and not to reach out to people, not to be socially responsible.
Newspapers won't die, at least I don't think so, because parts of society still find them relevant. But continued bidding wars such as the one Phil talks about might sully the good name of journalism.
I agree that I think it is a stretch to say that newspapers will completely die out. I think through the semester our class has agreed that print media in general is changing as there are many other news outlets to go to for information. However, I think that this newspaper debate is about the media conglomerates craving power and ownership. I do not think it necessarily means that journalism is not to be a social responsibility for society, but I think it is clear that profitability is an important aspect for the newspaper industry.
I think Phil has a very interesting approach to this bidding war, but I disagree with him when he says newspapers are as worthless as last week's weather. This isn't true for the reasons Quinn and Melissa stated- that some part of society will still find newspapers relevant, and as Melissa said, that print media isn't going to necessarily die, but change. How it will change we aren't quite sure yet, though we can predict it is more towards a web-based, multimedia approach.
Which leads me to my next point, Phil said that the reason these major companies are trying to out bid each other for this paper is because "the paper compliments their media empires in the digital age." Additionally, I believe it was the Dolans who said the paper serves the greater Long Island community, where other forms of media are owned by them. So their seems to be reason for them to want this paper because it helps them as society and media move in a digital direction.
I think Phil's article was a little harsh on newspapers, though it seems everyone is these days. I wonder if he was in the J-school...
I agree
I agree that newspapers will not die out but simply change. I think that a great deal of people have a very strong connection to certain newspapers and will continue to pay to read them. Although we have been talking a lot about the changing media and the web, I think that there is a different feel to reading a newspaper. Although you may be able to get more on the web such as videos or blogs, the newspaper is something that I do not think can ever completely go away. I relation to the bidding wars, I agree with Quinn in that it does show way too much about the corporations and all the “behind the scene” work that goes on and I definitely think it makes people think a little differently about journalism. People want to think that the newspapers are available to provide news and information and do not want to know about the profits and deals being made. When you have articles such as these I think it makes it harder to convince the public that your agenda as a newspaper is simply to be social responsible.
I agree, but one thing I think people are leaving out is the fact that even though big names are trying to out-bid each other, in the end the public will most likely still get the same kind of news that it is getting now. So, to say that by making this bidding war too public is not catering to social responsibility, I think, is a little harsh. I do agree that the bidding wars are about the money, but the question I ask is whether the means to end matters so much. I think that because they are bidding on the papers and making a big deal of things makes the public see that newspapers are still important.
Also, I would agree that having these papers "helps them in the digital age" but at the same time newspapers in the physical form are not going to go away (or at least not anytime soon), so not only is it helping them move forward online, but it is also helping them currently with the present form of news.
I agree with Maryjo, as long as the level of quality of the newspaper stays the same then it does not really matter how public the bidding war is. It does show that the companies behind the papers only care about money and not the good of the public but as long as the news content is not swayed by this money then I think it is alright. I do not agree that the newspapers are going to die out completely, I think they are just going through some changes as they will continue as society and the media changes.
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