NYU prof Clay Shirky has made himself into a New Media guru for thinking more clearly than anyone else about the death of newspapers and what it all means. He understands that the loss of what he calls "the economics of scarcity" -- the ability of newspapers in the 20th Century to charge local firms high rates for ads because their were no other options -- is a problem with no real solution. I was struck by this Shirky prediction, however:
Even with that experimentation, he added, the ongoing shrinkage of newspapers is likely to create a “giant hole” that will not be filled for some time. He said he has a vision of communities of 10,000 people or fewer becoming rife with “casual endemic corruption,” as newspapers are no longer able to fulfill their traditional watchdog roles.
In other words, small towns with diminished or no newspapers will be...just like Philadelphia. Except that from the mid-1970s through the 1990s, Philadelphia's two well-staffed newspapers won 20 Pulitzer Prizes, and yet that was also a golden era of political corruption here in Philly. So perhaps the interplay is a little more complicated.
Also, newspapers in towns of 10,000 or less are still doing pretty well economically (in part because "the economy of scarcity" still exists in these places). The papers that are struggling are in metro areas like Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Good thing there's little or no graft in those places.*
* Sarcasm.
Comment removed.
If the papers didn't consistently publish liberal, race-based garbage, people would buy them. One of Philly's finest admitted about a month ago that he did not publish information that he knew was damaging to a political candidate. The downfall of the papers is exactly because they believe they are the judge, jury and conscience of the people - but they are not. And people have had enough of it.— mikeyg- Just because your a highly educated professor, it doesn't mean youre not a fool.— tr88
- lol why buy the cow when I can get the milk for free? I haven't bought an Inquirer for something like 10 years lol.— texas.troubadour
- There will always be government watchdogs. There is a gadfly or two in almost every community. Those folks are the ones who usually uncover stuff. Newspapers are just who they go to to get help spreading the word.In most of those smalltown papers, the reporters are either too young and inexperienced to recognize the corruption without someone pointing it out, or they are too old and entrenched as part of the local establishment, with no interest in rocking the boat. The gadlys, dare I call them community activists (yeah, let's use that phrase just to get a rise out of the wingnuts) will find other ways to get the word out if newspapers don't exist.
- Ironically, texas.troubadour is right. Part of the reason papers are struggling is due to the fact we can read everything they provide free of cost to us. If they began charging minimal fees when online services began in the late '90s, about when the trend of making the news "free" began, we might be used to paying for the online services. The advertising model is broken and papers not willing to change their business plans is resulting in the problems they are facing. The papers need to find a way to charge the television and internet news "services" more to obtain their information, since they seem to benefit the most, and get the most credit, from the news originating in the dailies. Just my two cents...— Timmy
- Anyone with half a brain realizes the vast majority of big newspaper are much more about influencing people than in reporting news. If yo want the real story go to Drudge or even Fox. At least they present alternative views. hello, anyone notice a correlation between their risng numbers and the traditioanl liberals shills decline?— tr88
- What will happen is that smaller newspapers, covering mostly local news, will pop up all over to fill the void left by papers like the Inq and Daily News, once a part of the dominant corporate news machine and has become obsolete. Their bloated operations and systems are now anachronistic in light of the more nimble internet news delivery systems and egalitarian blogs, where anyone with a computer can make his or her opinions known and get them heard without the censorship that comes with a large paper with a political agenda of to which it blindly adheres.— trainrdt
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- wrong. blogs are the new watchdogs. only problem for will is that they're watching old, traditional, partisan media.— Bud Fox
- "Traditional Watchdogs"???? You guys do a great job watching the Philadelphia Democrats!!!! The Inqy and Daily News watches alright- as the corrupt Democrats reek havoc on the City.— Illogical Liberal
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- Very elitist view, Will. You and your brethern, like Col. Jessup, man that wall for all Americans, I guess. Yawn.— Dopespotter
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Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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