Newspapers Own Fault

Newspapers are dead.

Long live newspapers.

So says John Oliver – It is sad that it takes a comedian to tell everyone what they pretty much already knew. People don't read newspapers – they don't want to pay for what they can get for free off the Internet or from the TV for basically nothing. (Actually they do pay for it through their Internet subscription, cable or satellite bill, or cell phone bill. They just think that it is free.)

But actual investigative journalism about the issues that matter locally, regionally, and nationally? Don't hold your breath. That costs serious money. And people are more in tune to cute animal pictures than things that can and will affect their lives.

Sad to say, President Trump could happen because of the death of journalism and media's need to make a profit to satisfy investors. Trump, who spends next to nothing on campaign advertising is within 10 points of Clinton who is spending tons on advertising. Trump knows how to manipulate the media and Clinton is a wonk that has less ability to connect with people than my pet rock. Or cats. Then again, all they have to do to get attention is sit on your lap and you'll scratch them. A Clinton campaign commercial comes on and the channel gets changed or the mute button is hit.

And the CEO of CBS said that Trump was great for ratings, terrible for the country. Or something to that effect. I'll have to dig it up from FAIR.org. Yes, the Internet has become our collective memory. Until someone edits and changes it.

And the newspapers have no one to blame for their demise but themselves. Rather than cover stories that matter to the working class – the largest segment of the population – and tell them the truth about what has happened and why it happened, it focuses on crime, accidents, and other trivial matters that entertain but never educate about what is going on and why.

The 2007 economic crash and crisis was covered horribly. The press did a horrible job of explaining the causes of it – the repeal of the Glass-Steagle Act, Wall Street ratings agencies failing to do their job in investigating the quality of a stock and rating it accordingly, and other libertarian economic deregulation that just don't work. They sound nice in theory. In reality – look at the Gilded Age. That's where they would send us. That's where we are not far from actually.

And journalist jobs have been hacked and slashed from newspapers offices, so they don't have the time to do the deep digging that democracy requires in order to function. The great muckrakers of the late 1800's and early 1900's must be spinning in their graves about the state of journalism today. Yes, every once in a while so great muckraking does happen, but those are the exceptions and they are few and far between in local papers.

And the Internet – Twitter, Facebook, and other forms of social media – don't make up the slack. Granted, there are some great social media groups that do excellent work in exposing things that those in power don't want people to know about. But, and that's a big but, if you are not aware of those organization, it is like a tree falling in the forest. Does it really make a sound?

And Buffalo is a one newspaper town. Wasn't capitalism dependent upon competition? Body builders that I know tell me that opposition builds strength, That's why they use weights. Where's the opposition to the Buffalo News? Maybe that's why it is such a milquetoast product. (Please – ignore Carl Paladino just once. Get an opinion from someone else and dare to say he is boring and predictable.)

Thomas Jefferson stated that he'd rather have newspapers without government than government without newspapers. Well, we really don't have any newspapers and the ones we have are owned by the people we should be investigating. Or the friends of the people we should be investigating. Don't get me started on the government, or lack thereof that we have.

The Buffalo News has joined Politifact to check on the claims of politician during this election season. It will be interesting to see if this collaboration continues after the election is over. It is an interesting idea to have an organization looking into the claims of politicians and those that aspire to power.

I would like to see an EconoFact – an organization that checks into the claims of the unelected powerful – the barons of industry and Wall Street. Are the economists, Wall Street, businessmen (and women) telling us the truth or are they just spouting garbage? We probably won't see that because newspapers are dependent upon advertising from those very people that they would be investigating. And we all know how money talks.

So, people turn to comedians to find out what is going on. 

And people laughed at the John Oliver skit.

They should have been crying.