MJamison: Thanks for the dialogue. Maybe you were born in the wrong century? But, in any case, you ARE published now!

We won’t agree on all—but that’s fine and good and as it should be.

Thanks for your vote of support. And please continue contributing.

And here’s the line you wrote that I’d like to remember the most of all:

MJamison - 26 February 2009 08:20 AM

And every moment under the sun has been anticipated by those that came before and those that exist in the future.

Never mind the sense of oppression in knowing that it’s all already happened. What a rush to be the crest of the wave onrushing, crashing—for this we are.

Is it even worth mentioning the big-name newspaper that are going under any more. Each week, it seems like another is on the chopping block. I just read that the Rocky Mountain News will stop publishing Friday.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/feb/26/rocky-mountain-news-closes-friday-final-edition/

But is this really news anymore? Are any big daily papers likely to survive past the next year or two?

I understand that to save on expenditures, soon Omniture Press will come out with the re-jiggered, “USA EveryOtherDay™” paper.

*Rimshot*

Today’s big news: The Chicago Sun-Times just filed for Chapter 11. Both of Chicago’s big daily papers—the Sun-Times and the Tribune—are in bankruptcy now.

And a quick round-up:

Gannett recently announced it’ll be shuttering the Tuscon News, and the Detroit Free Press will be going to three-day delivery (a move widely seen to be headed towards online-only publication).

That’s in addition to the recent wage freezes, short-term layoffs (or furloughs, if you prefer spin-lingo) and various other cuts.

The New York Times is being a bit more secretive about their chain, but it was recently announced that 5-percent pay cuts for most staff and some layoffs were taking place.

It’s looking pretty bad for mainstream print journalism these days.

It looks like predictions of the future circa 1980 are coming true.  Well, this one is, anyway.  I remember hearing “Some day you will read the newspaper on your TV” and thinking there was no possible way.  Now if they would follow through on flying cars and rocket belts, we’d all be set.

Now if they would follow through on flying cars

That looks suspiciously similar to an airplane.  Until it can parallel park while in hover mode, I’m not impressed.

:P

willc - 31 March 2009 12:26 PM

I remember hearing “Some day you will read the newspaper on your TV” and thinking there was no possible way.

I’ve been doing this since 1998. I stopped reading national newspapers in print around 2000. It’s astonishing that newspapers are still around at all, in a lot of ways.

willc - 31 March 2009 01:38 PM

That looks suspiciously similar to an airplane.  Until it can parallel park while in hover mode, I’m not impressed.

:P

Same here, it has to be anti-grav or it doesn’t count.

flying car is different than car that flies.

damn ya’ll are hard to please….

this from a utopian anarchist rebel…

i feell ashamed…

utopian? that would require faith in mankind…. i harbor no such delusions….

i have faith that newspapers as we know them are pretty much over…