Associated Press
Today in the 'newspapers aren't dead, right?' department, ex-LAT editor Dean Baquet heaps criticism on his former employer, the Tribune Co., in a Mother Jones interview. Key excerpt:
DB: You just get the sense that a lot of newspapers are cutting without any plan. There are not enough people saying, "Okay, well maybe we can cut here so we can build on the web." Some people have criticized me for not saying, "Let's cut here and move resources to the web." The reality was that's not true. That's exactly what I proposed. I proposed that we build up more resources on the web.MJ: When did you propose that?
DB: A year ago. But I think the reality is that newspapers are in a panic. The cutting is not part of anything. It's not moving towards anything. It's not part of a plan. It's to prop up margins that maybe can't be propped up at the same level.
Meanwhile, a more positive view of recent developments in newspaper-land: in the Columbia Journalism Review, Robert Kuttner writes that major newspapers "have turned the corner, though only barely and just in time" and predicts that in twenty-five years, most dailies will be mostly digital. (Which is a longer time-frame than some newspaper professionals have suggested recently).
The article is full of bite-sized anecdotes about how different papers are managing their online operations, along with a lot of specific budget and revenue data. Kuttner also invents the term 'crog,' which is like a blog except Carefully Researched. Crog. Roll it around on your tongue for a moment. We like it.
