May 15 2009, 1:38PM
The Death of Newspapers (cont'd)
The good news is that auto dealers still advertise in newspapers. The bad news is that a lot of dealers are closing.
The NY Times (still clinging to life) says that GM and Chrysler plan to shut down 3,158 dealers between them, which has got to be yet another bad blow on the advertising front. Not that this dealer advertising would have lasted forever; already, I suspect, people do most of their car shopping on the Internet rather than in the Sunday paper. So sooner or later these ads would have followed help wanted, real estate, clothing and so forth into a new medium.
Yes, it's another nail in the coffin, and not a minute too soon. Once we no longer have newspapers to make us so dumb, we can rest assured that America will launch no further misguided foreign military adventures, that the president will never lie, and that corruption at City Hall in South Succotash, Neb. will cease. We'll be pretty safe from other sources of news as well, since most of the rest of the media relies on newspaper and wire service reporters (paid for by newspapers) to find out what the hell is going on. Then we can all just go on believing what we prefer, untroubled by inconvenient facts to the contrary. Like the song says: what a wonderful world it will be.
Daniel Akst
Bankruptcy lawyer Tom Lauria:
Let me tell you it’s no fun standing on this side of the fence opposing the President of the United States. In fact, let me just say, people have asked me who I represent. That’s a moving target. I can tell you for sure that I represent one less investor today than I represented yesterday. One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House Press Corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight. That’s how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence.
The silence from the media concerning this charge--that the White House press corps could be wielded like a club to destroy an Obama enemy--proves how futile your argument is that without newspapers we can't stop politicians from lying and expose local corruption. You're not doing that now and you have the most target-rich environment in eight years.
You newspaper-types are literally a wholly owned subsidiary of either Barack Obama, the Democrat party or both.
You think we can't see that?
Keep speaking Truth to Power, Koblog.
"Back back back back back! Homerun! Oh boy, you could see tell that one was gone the moment it came off the bat! That kid Koblog just smacked the bejesus out of that fastball from the veteran Akst."
"Let me ask you Joe. Do you think the manager left Akst in the game too long?"
"Yes. Yes, I do Chris. Akst has nothing left. He's completely out of gas and the kid Koblog made him look like a Rookie league benchwarmer instead of a 'Major League' veteran.
"As a matter of fact, the whole starting lineup for Big Media is a bunch of overpaid has-beens with massive egos who still think they can win a World Series. I think it's time to rebuild the franchise."
This guy sounds like he wants a Federal bailout. After all, if the UAW could own the American auto industry, why can't newspapers go on the dole as their reward for slavish devotion to His Obamaness?
I'm sure the professionalism of their employees will prevent them from becoming mouthpieces for our political masters in Washington.