“Suicidal glory is the luxury of the irresponsible. We're not giving up. We're waiting for a better opportunity to win.”
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" I don't think I've ever met a Liberal whom I didn't like on a personal basis. That said, if your goal is to change minds and influence people, it's probably not a good idea to begin by asserting that virtually all elected Democrats are liars. But what the hell."
Here's a bit of proper irony. George Will's syndicated
column this week has to do with the end of the news media as we have
come to know and (mistrust, in my case) love it. Below is the
column as printed by two newspapers. To the left is the California
Daily Breeze, to the right The Jewish
World Review's, which corresponds with what my local paper
printed. Just scroll down until you come to a canyon if you're in a
hurry.
>
'Big media' becoming like
your father's Oldsmobile
Studies
show younger people are continuing to abandon newspapers and the young
are voracious consumers of media, but not of journalism.
By George Will
If
you awake before dawn you probably hear a daily sound that may become
as anachronistic as the clatter of horses' hooves on urban
cobblestones. The sound is the slap of the morning paper on the
sidewalk.
The circulation of daily U.S. newspapers is 55.2 million, down
from
62.3 million in 1990. The percentages of adults who say they read a
paper "yesterday" are ominous:
• 65 and older: 60 percent
• 50-64: 52 percent
• 30-49: 39 percent
• 18-29: 23 percent
Americans 8 to 18 spend an average of 6 hours and 21 minutes a
day
with media of all sorts, but just 43 minutes with print media.
<>The combined viewership of the network evening newscasts is
28.8
million, down from 52.1 million in 1980. The median age of viewers is
60. Hence the sponsorship of news programming by Metamucil and
Fixodent. >Perhaps we are entering what David T.Z. Mindich, formerly
of CNN, calls "a post-journalism age."
Writing in The Wilson Quarterly,
in a section on "the collapse of big media," he rejects the opinion of
a CBS official that "time is on our side in that as you get older, you
tend to get more interested in the world around you." Mindich cites
research showing that "a particular age cohort's reading habits do not
change much with time."
Baby boomers who became adults in the 1970s consume less
journalism
than their parents did. And although in 1972 nearly half of those 18 to
22 read a newspaper every day; now less than a quarter do. In 1972,
nearly three-quarters of those 34 to 37 read a paper daily; now only
about a third do. This means, Mindich says, "fewer kids are growing up
in households in which newspapers matter."
<>The young are voracious
consumers of media, but not of journalism.
Sixty-eight percent of children 8 to 18 have televisions in their
rooms; 33 percent have computers. And if they could only have one
entertainment medium, a third would choose the computer, a quarter
would choose television. They carry their media around with them: 79
percent of 8-to-18-year-olds have portable CD, tape or MP3 players.
Fifty-five percent have hand-held video game players. Sony's
PlayStation Portable, which plays music, games and movies, sold more
than 500,000 units in the first two days after its March debut.>
Also writing in The Wilson Quarterly, Terry Eastland,
publisher of The Weekly Standard,
notes that the old media establishment "emerged at a time when
Americans generally respected those in authority." When that respect
began to recede, establishment media actually gained strength. But the
liberal coloration of the big media provoked the emergence of such
rivals as Rush Limbaugh (1988) and Fox News (1996).
Consumers of news now understand that, as Eastland says, "news
is a
thing made, a product, and that media with certain beliefs and values
once made the news and then presented it in authoritative terms, as
though beyond criticism. Thus did Walter Cronkite famously end his
newscasts, 'And that's the way it is.' That way, period."
DELETED
The fragmentation of the media market by technology is especially
dramatic in radio. Just a blink ago the widespread lament was that a
few providers, such as Clear Channel with 1,200 U.S. stations, were
producing homogenized programming for a single mass market. Suddenly
there is satellite radio. XM's more than 150 channels include Fungus
("punk/hardcore/ska"), Squizz ("hard alternative") and NASCAR2
("in-race driver audio").
The future of the big media that the young have abandoned is
not
certain. But do you remember when an automobile manufacturer,
desperately seeking young customers, plaintively promised that its cars
were "not your father's Oldsmobile"? Do you remember Oldsmobiles?
If you awake before dawn you probably hear a
daily sound that may become as anachronistic as the clatter of horses'
hooves on urban cobblestones. The sound is the slap of the morning
paper on the sidewalk.>
The
circulation of daily U.S. newspapers is 55.2 million, down from 62.3
million in 1990. The percentages of adults who say they read a paper
"yesterday" are ominous:
? 65 and older — 60 percent.
? 50-64 — 52 percent.
? 30-49 — 39 percent.
? 18-29 — 23 percent.
Americans
ages 8 to 18 spend an average of 6 hours and 21 minutes a day with
media of all sorts but just 43 minutes with print media.
The
combined viewership of the network evening newscasts is 28.8 million,
down from 52.1 million in 1980. The median age of viewers is 60. Hence
the sponsorship of news programming by Metamucil and Fixodent. Perhaps
we are entering what David T.Z. Mindich, formerly of CNN, calls "a
post-journalism age."
Writing in the Wilson Quarterly, in a
section on "the collapse of big media," he rejects the opinion of a CBS
official that "time is on our side in that as you get older, you tend
to get more interested in the world around you." Mindich cites research
showing that "a particular age cohort's reading habits do not change
much with time."
Baby boomers who became adults in the 1970s
consume less journalism than their parents did. And although in 1972
nearly half of those 18 to 22 read a newspaper every day, now less than
a quarter do. In 1972 nearly three-quarters of those 34 to 37 read a
paper daily; now only about a third do. This means, Mindich says,
"fewer kids are growing up in households in which newspapers matter."
The
young are voracious consumers of media, but not of journalism.
Sixty-eight percent of children 8 to 18 have televisions in their
rooms; 33 percent have computers. And if they could have only one
entertainment medium, a third would choose the computer, a quarter
would choose television. They carry their media around with them: 79
percent of young people ages 8 to 18 have portable CD, tape or MP3
players. Fifty-five percent have hand-held video game players. Sony's
PlayStation Portable, which plays music, games and movies, sold more
than 500,000 units in the first two days after its March debut.
Also
writing in the Wilson Quarterly, Terry Eastland, publisher of the
Weekly Standard, notes that the old media establishment "emerged at a
time when Americans generally respected those in authority." When that
respect began to recede, establishment media actually gained strength.
But the liberal coloration of the big media provoked the emergence of
such rivals as Rush Limbaugh (1988) and Fox News (1996).
Consumers
of news now understand that, as Eastland says, "news is a thing made, a
product, and that media with certain beliefs and values once made the
news and then presented it in authoritative terms, as though beyond
criticism. Thus did Walter Cronkite famously end his newscasts, 'And
that's the way it is.' That way, period."
When, after the
misreported Tet offensive of 1968 (a U.S. military victory described as
a crushing defeat), Cronkite declared Vietnam a "stalemate," he spoke,
as Mindich says, to "a captive audience." Nearly 80 percent of
television sets in use at the dinner hour were tuned to one of the
three network newscasts, and Cronkite had the largest share.
If
that had been the broadcast marketplace in 2004, John Kerry would be
president: The three networks reported the Swift boat veterans' attacks
on Kerry only after coverage of the attacks by cable news and talk
radio forced Kerry to respond. The networks were very interested in
charges pertaining to a Vietnam-era story about George W. Bush's
alleged dereliction of National Guard duties — until bloggers, another
manifestation of new, small and nimble media, shredded it.
The
fragmentation of the media market by technology is especially dramatic
in radio. Just a blink ago the widespread lament was that a few
providers, such as Clear Channel with 1,200 U.S. stations, were
producing homogenized programming for a single mass market. Suddenly
there is satellite radio. XM's more than 150 channels include Fungus
("punk/hardcore/ska"), Squizz ("hard alternative") and NASCAR2
("in-race driver audio"). Sirius's more than 120 channels include one
that is all Elvis, 24-7.
The future of the big media that the
young have abandoned is not certain. But do you remember when an
automobile manufacturer, desperately seeking young customers,
plaintively promised that its cars were "not your father's Oldsmobile"?
Do you remember Oldsmobiles?
I imagine that the Daily Breeze's excuse will be something
like "I spilled tuna
fish juice on that part and couldn't read it." But, there are
consequences for us news consumers who are getting different
feeds. Like what happened this morning while me and my friend
Bernie was out walking our dogs.
ME:
Well Bernie, did you read Will's column this
morning?
BERNIE:
Yes I did.Yes I did.
ME:
Did you see that he verified what I said,
that Walter Cronkite was Joe Stalin's bitch?
BERNIE:
What? You are so full of shit Schultz
ME:
Fuck you pinko bastard
BERNIE:
Sic him Rollo, sic him
ME:
Arrgggggggh. Get the damned dog off my
leg .. REAGAN! ATTACK GIRL !