Since American automakers are having a tough time would you accept a new auto with a couple of doors missing so the company could save some money?
Would an automaker dare ask a customer for such a concession?
Newspapers – having a financially tough time – are asking just about that – less newspaper, fewer stories, and light content and soon at a higher cost.
The Project for Excellence in Journalism today issued a report of a survey of newspapers about “The Changing Newsroom.” http://www.journalism.org/node/11961 [1]
Among its conclusions:
The study, however, comments on this change and its effect on institutional memory, so important to understand what is happening.
“In the survey responses, the loss of talent and experience was ranked as the number one concern when editors were asked to volunteer what has hurt their newsrooms the most. Fully 41 percent of editors survey offered comments that fell into this category… ‘When you have to let go someone who has been in a job for 5, 10 or 20 years, you lose something that cannot be recouped by the people who are left behind in the newsroom,’ commented one editor, who counted the passing of institutional knowledge as the newsroom’s biggest loss.”
And this is sad for any kind of institution: “When asked to cite the newsroom loss that hurt the most, one editor answered simply, ‘The concept of who and what we are.’”
We are losing our newspaper here under Terry Egger and Susan Goldberg as it changes from what was a document of at least some record to a cosmetic version of what used to be a newspaper.
Links:
[1] http://www.journalism.org/node/11961
[2] http://li326-157.members.linode.com/content/news-outlet-cutbacks-not-only-pd-also-tv
[3] http://li326-157.members.linode.com/content/roldo-bartimole-0
[4] http://li326-157.members.linode.com/content/next-big-robbery-taking-your-social-security-down