Amazon will be rly happy when you drop that $360 Kindle into the tub and the ziploc leaks and you have to buy another one to read the 56 "classics" you downloaded at the recommendation of ILB.
― One Community Service Mummy, hold the Straightedge Merman (Laurel), Wednesday, 17 December 2008 14:52 (4 years ago) Permalink
yeah this is getting off thread topic, but i don't think books are going away just yet. the kindle is cool, sure, but it's not a industry gamechanger like the Ipod.
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 17 December 2008 14:54 (4 years ago) Permalink
I can't imagine using a kindle.
How many of you read papers via iPhone or another mobile device?
― Not Everyone Can Be Tupac (Susan), Wednesday, 17 December 2008 14:55 (4 years ago) Permalink
A book is pretty much perfectly designed for what you want to do with it though. In today's day and age, I'm not sure a newspaper is, especially given the speed at which things happen.
― Matt DC, Wednesday, 17 December 2008 15:25 (4 years ago) Permalink
How many of you read papers via iPhone or another mobile device?Me.
― stet, Wednesday, 17 December 2008 15:27 (4 years ago) Permalink
if a kindle fit in my back pocket i would buy one in like two seconds.
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 17 December 2008 15:28 (4 years ago) Permalink
Does the Kindle do that looong pause and annoying flash every time you turn the page like the Sony Reader does? They need to fix that.
― stet, Wednesday, 17 December 2008 15:29 (4 years ago) Permalink
what the Reader and Kindle need is a feature where every time you finish a page, a loud bell goes off, then when you finish a chapter, it plays a short fanfare, and when you finish the book, it plays the end-title music from the Godfather. Now that would be both motivational and satisfying.
― dan selzer, Wednesday, 17 December 2008 15:33 (4 years ago) Permalink
In newspapers' partial defense, their problems are hugely magnified by the recession/depression. The economic situation we're facing might have destroyed a few papers even in pre-internet times.
― Indiespace Administratester (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 17 December 2008 15:53 (4 years ago) Permalink
The kindle seems prohibitively expensive for most, considering the only thing you can do with it is read books on it.
― Nicolars (Nicole), Wednesday, 17 December 2008 16:27 (4 years ago) Permalink
As I heard it, the man who assembled the newspaper chain which owns my local daily, Si Newhouse, constantly preached that a newspaper is not a vehicle for delivering news, but a vehicle for delivering advertising. Oftentimes I have looked for some news in the product dropped at my doorstep and verified his observation.
― Aimless, Wednesday, 17 December 2008 17:20 (4 years ago) Permalink
He is right of course. But no news = no vehicle.
― Indiespace Administratester (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 17 December 2008 17:39 (4 years ago) Permalink
Nickel Ads, the Newspaper of The Future!!
― Aimless, Wednesday, 17 December 2008 17:56 (4 years ago) Permalink
RIP rocky mountain news
― max, Thursday, 26 February 2009 20:14 (4 years ago) Permalink
I am considering whether 'twould be nobler in the mind to subscribe to the NYT and read a newspaper whose reason for existance does not revolve around the comics page. But it seems disloyal somehow.
― Aimless, Thursday, 26 February 2009 20:21 (4 years ago) Permalink
― StanM, Friday, 27 February 2009 15:55 (4 years ago) Permalink
:'-(
― max, Friday, 27 February 2009 15:57 (4 years ago) Permalink
adapt or die, eh?
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 27 February 2009 16:00 (4 years ago) Permalink
no wonder they folded, all the news on the sidebar is 150 years late
― bobby dijindal (and what), Friday, 27 February 2009 16:01 (4 years ago) Permalink
Seattle Post-Intelligencer and/or SF Chronicle are probably the next two to drop unless they figure something out
― dmr, Friday, 27 February 2009 19:25 (4 years ago) Permalink
P-I is screwed, might go web-only but who cares if that's the case
― linh (jergins), Friday, 27 February 2009 19:44 (4 years ago) Permalink
http://www.printweek.com/news/881913/We-will-launch-paper/
― go back to ur game of Croquette ye posho's (stevie), Saturday, 28 February 2009 20:05 (4 years ago) Permalink
― Judd Nelson (special guest stars mark bronson), Tuesday, 3 March 2009 14:52 (4 years ago) Permalink
xpost -- I like how that URL is completely opposite from the headline.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 3 March 2009 14:59 (4 years ago) Permalink
How does delivering the paper equate to reading it?
― Jarlrmai, Tuesday, 3 March 2009 15:13 (4 years ago) Permalink
"Rap Band"
― I shall always respect my elders (Z S), Tuesday, 3 March 2009 15:17 (4 years ago) Permalink
http://moviecitynews.com/voices/2009/090302_critics.html
― people of the world (jergins), Wednesday, 4 March 2009 07:32 (4 years ago) Permalink
Grimly have you seen http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7855798.stm ?
― Pfunkboy in blood drenched rabbit suit jamming in the woods (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 10 March 2009 22:28 (4 years ago) Permalink
(it's asking if newspapers have dumbed down in the last 30 years)
― Pfunkboy in blood drenched rabbit suit jamming in the woods (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 10 March 2009 22:30 (4 years ago) Permalink
there will probably be a story about bears shitting in the woods accompanying it.
1989
The paper wears its Thatcherite heart on its sleeve with page leads on plans being considered by the Tory government for identity cards and the possibility of all immigrants being DNA tested.
― Pfunkboy in blood drenched rabbit suit jamming in the woods (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 10 March 2009 22:34 (4 years ago) Permalink
and
George Walden pens a column about the dangers of the end of the Cold War, including the rise of Islam.
― Pfunkboy in blood drenched rabbit suit jamming in the woods (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 10 March 2009 22:35 (4 years ago) Permalink
Er. Is it? It just seems to be going "MY GOD, LOOK, WE'VE GOT AN INFINITE AMOUNT OF WEBSPACE TO FILL SO WE'RE GOING TO PUT THIS DRIVEL UP HERE." Really, the impression I get is that the only newspapers with which the author is properly familiar are the ones used to line the bottom of his cage.
Still. Yes, newspapers as we know them absolutely and totally fucked, large swathes of the broadcast media hot on their heels ... in what possible way is this news? :)
― Atoms are "balls" (grimly fiendish), Tuesday, 10 March 2009 22:47 (4 years ago) Permalink
Also: if you ever wanted evidence of why newspapers as we know them should cease to exist, that "Teens: Yesterday and Today" thing might be pretty much perfect. Other than "I am a suppurating fucking bell-end", I fail to see what point the cartoonist is trying to make.
― Atoms are "balls" (grimly fiendish), Tuesday, 10 March 2009 22:50 (4 years ago) Permalink
I think that is the point actually.
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 10 March 2009 22:52 (4 years ago) Permalink
Ha. Fair enough.
― Atoms are "balls" (grimly fiendish), Tuesday, 10 March 2009 22:54 (4 years ago) Permalink
There is nothing like reading a newspaper in its hard copy form. However, I have found from sniffing around that if your online paper looks like a newspaper, people might find your news more substantial. I have been reading the Pantagraph lately because it looks great. By the way, this paper is 172 years old!
― u s steel, Tuesday, 10 March 2009 22:56 (4 years ago) Permalink
the cartoon is an onion parody btw, just in case it's not clear who is being a suppurating fucking bell-end here.
― joe, Tuesday, 10 March 2009 22:57 (4 years ago) Permalink
Oh! I'd consider blushing, but ... er, actually, I'm not sure it works as a parody either.
<Looks again>
OK. Might not be as offensively shit, but it's still shit. Unless there's some fabulous piece of context in which it should be viewed?
― Atoms are "balls" (grimly fiendish), Tuesday, 10 March 2009 23:14 (4 years ago) Permalink
Fabulous piece of context = most US political cartoonists.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 10 March 2009 23:17 (4 years ago) Permalink
Christ, really? *Boggles*. OK, in that case I'm going to step back ... there are some holes in my knowledge I'm happy to keep. Apologies to the Onion cartoonist, but to be honest: you might actually be better simply using your pen to go around stabbing some of your contemporaries in the neck.
― Atoms are "balls" (grimly fiendish), Tuesday, 10 March 2009 23:22 (4 years ago) Permalink
Chuck Asay died for your sins: batshit rightwing cartoonists 2009
― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 10 March 2009 23:24 (4 years ago) Permalink
^ Threads I have never opened and never intend to, #26. And I think this little exchange has really, really impressed upon me how many tears of blood I would weep if I did.
― Atoms are "balls" (grimly fiendish), Tuesday, 10 March 2009 23:28 (4 years ago) Permalink
never read it either
― Pfunkboy in blood drenched rabbit suit jamming in the woods (Herman G. Neuname), Wednesday, 11 March 2009 13:11 (4 years ago) Permalink
You're missing out
― I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 11 March 2009 13:19 (4 years ago) Permalink
#462 in the series of things I never thought I would see referenced on ILX. I grew up in a tiny shit town in McLean County, so that was pretty much the only paper I even saw for a good chunk of my youth. I always thought the mustachioed Bill Flick was hilarious when I was 12.
― legendary North American forest ape (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 11 March 2009 13:22 (4 years ago) Permalink
i still don't understand that onion cartoon
― \∫Öζ/.... argh oh noes! (ken c), Wednesday, 11 March 2009 15:55 (4 years ago) Permalink
tomorrow is the final print edition of the seattle post-intelligencer. 146 years...
― cathlamet wa (jergins), Monday, 16 March 2009 19:26 (4 years ago) Permalink
the final print edition
(sings)
I gave my love a newspaper, with no paaaay-per.
― Aimless, Monday, 16 March 2009 19:28 (4 years ago) Permalink
seattle post-intelligencer
<Doffs cap, sadly>
― Atoms are "balls" (grimly fiendish), Monday, 16 March 2009 19:39 (4 years ago) Permalink
Advance also said Thursday that three major daily newspapers that it owns in Alabama will switch to publishing three days a week as part of a new focus on online news: The Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times and the Press-Register of Mobile.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g-VEJIvNQKJKPe6Pz4fWFot76Iyw?docId=ecc3151fb82e44dd98446f33dd4258c7
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 24 May 2012 18:40 (1 year ago) Permalink
Meanwhile, Warren Buffett is buying newspapers:
Buffett is adding to Berkshire’s newspaper holdings with the $142 million deal announced May 17 for Media General Inc. (MEG) publications including the Richmond Times-Dispatch of Virginia. The billionaire, who bought the Buffalo News in 1977 and said in 2009 that newspapers have the potential for unending losses, is now betting that papers with a community focus can profit as they change their models.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-24/buffett-says-free-news-unsustainable-may-add-more-papers.html
― o. nate, Thursday, 24 May 2012 20:57 (1 year ago) Permalink
I think he's right that there's still a void to fill in terms of local/community information, and probably a way to make money off this, but I'm not clear on how he thinks existing newspapers are going to fill that void without going bankrupt.
― this guy's a gangsta? his real name's mittens. (Hurting 2), Thursday, 24 May 2012 21:15 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yeah, I'm not sure if he knows either.
...Buffett wrote in a letter to editors and publishers of Berkshire’s daily newspapers. "We want your best thinking as we work out the blend of digital and print that will attract both the audience and the revenue we need."
― o. nate, Thursday, 24 May 2012 21:19 (1 year ago) Permalink
I thought AOL's "Patch" was a perhaps good idea that was ATROCIOUSLY executed. But something like that could work maybe, a sort of national network of local news sites, taking advantage of certain scalable aspects while keeping the content completely local and locally reported.
― this guy's a gangsta? his real name's mittens. (Hurting 2), Thursday, 24 May 2012 21:28 (1 year ago) Permalink
patch may be good in theory except for the part where huffpo hired a bunch of 23 year olds right out of college to run the sites and expected them to turn a profit immediately
― fapper don (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 24 May 2012 21:53 (1 year ago) Permalink
I think a lot of Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods would support more extensive and better quality local coverage, just for example. The big dailies mostly stick to the *trendy* angles on brooklyn and all but ignore queens. No great source for real local news. The Brooklyn Paper seems spotty. Highly literate and interested populace, big city.
― this guy's a gangsta? his real name's mittens. (Hurting 2), Thursday, 24 May 2012 21:56 (1 year ago) Permalink
patch is terrible in theory too, because the economics just don't work. there's no way to make it add up.
well, it could plausibly work in major cities, everything after that, forget it.
― stet, Thursday, 24 May 2012 23:51 (1 year ago) Permalink
― piscesx, Friday, 25 May 2012 01:28 (1 year ago) Permalink
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/175122/will-new-orleanians-follow-the-times-picayune-online-after-it-cuts-back-on-print/
analysis--uh maybe
― curmudgeon, Friday, 25 May 2012 11:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
Dead newspapers, dead Middle American democracy
http://www.salon.com/2012/06/11/dead_newspapers_kill_democracy_dead/singleton/
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Monday, 11 June 2012 17:47 (11 months ago) Permalink
http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2012/06/times-picayune_employees_to_le.html#incart_river
They just canned a bunch of the staff
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 04:00 (11 months ago) Permalink
http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/12/brett-anderson-new-orleans-food-writer-is-laid-off/
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 04:11 (11 months ago) Permalink
times-picayune pretended the BP oil spill didn't happen until the national media picked it up. seriously. there was a tiny story on the rig explosion and then nothing for like two weeks. in a town/state utterly subject to the sordid whims of energy companies. weird huh.
i know i should be all wringing my hands on the decline of professional journalism or something but if the t-p is an example of modern american newspaperdom just let the whole thing die.
― adam, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 20:32 (11 months ago) Permalink
Yeah, AEI link, but:
The blue line in the chart above displays total annual print newspaper advertising revenue (for the categories national, retail and classified) based on actual annual data from 1950 to 2011, and estimated annual revenue for 2012 using quarterly data through the second quarter of this year, from the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). The advertising revenues have been adjusted for inflation, and appear in the chart as millions of constant 2012 dollars. Estimated print advertising revenues of $19.0 billion in 2012 will be the lowest annual amount spent on print newspaper advertising since the NAA started tracking ad revenue in 1950.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 10 September 2012 19:59 (8 months ago) Permalink
Oof.
― Chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 11 September 2012 00:32 (8 months ago) Permalink
Surprising that they were doing so well in 1999.
― get you ass to mahs (abanana), Tuesday, 11 September 2012 01:52 (8 months ago) Permalink
2005 as the start of the steep decline sounds right.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 11 September 2012 01:55 (8 months ago) Permalink
1999 was right before things really hit an infrastructure tipping point in terms of the Net as high speed delivery, IIRC.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 September 2012 01:59 (8 months ago) Permalink
I've mentioned this on other threads, but an indispensible site for following industry triage/amputation/death/autopsy: http://jimromenesko.com/
― Irwin Dante's Towering Inferno (WmC), Tuesday, 11 September 2012 01:59 (8 months ago) Permalink
Innovative approach from the Irish newspaper industry: demand money from people who link to your content.
http://www.mcgarrsolicitors.ie/2012/12/30/2012-the-year-irish-newspapers-tried-to-destroy-the-web/
― the definite listicle (seandalai), Thursday, 3 January 2013 11:22 (4 months ago) Permalink
"We're probably not going to lose a lot, but we aren't going to make much either."
― REBEL YELL FOR HUGS (Austerity Ponies), Thursday, 10 January 2013 17:21 (4 months ago) Permalink