I've been ignoring this report on people not caring about losing their local newspapers. And this report by possibly the most respected journalism organization in North America, if not the world, that tells us we should all re-write our resumes and start applying for PR jobs.
(This unscientific poll says more than half of people think newspapers inform them and hold government accountable, which makes me feel a little better. Even if it is taken from a sample of Globe online readers.)
So I've just decided not to read any of them. That's a useful strategy, right?
Okay, I just peeked at the Pew report press release (the report is 180,000 pages...maybe I'll read that on the weekend) and it says the same thing all the other reports are: readership is UP...but online. And since online content is free, nobody can afford to pay their reporters. There seems to be a gathering momentum behind asking readers to pay for online content. Papers have tried this before and abandoned it because there was always somebody else offering free content. But maybe this recession will force all the companies to try it again at the same time.
Being of a generation that believes I should get everything online for free, this pains me. But not eating pains me more, and seeing my friends losing their jobs is still worse. Paying a couple of cents per article is something I can do, and I hope other people will consider it too.
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