Comments on: Breaking: Worst Monday Ever At Broad & Whatever As Philly Newspapers File Chapter 11

By: cb

cb — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:31:21 +0000

@pakman isn’t that the problem, though? Not enough ads being sold = not enough money to pay local reporters = a lot of syndicated content.

By: pakman

pakman — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:55:04 +0000

i really am at a loss to the “death of newspapers” story. i think its really simple and a couple commenters have point it out. there is no need for a philadelphia inq that publishes straight copy from ap, nyt, washington post, la times stories. what is needed is local reporting. hopefully this chapter 11 will allow them to restructure to one paper that has a clear goal to cover philadelphia well. redundancy is the problem. i dont need to buy the philly inq to read the nyt.

By: ResIpsaLoquitur

ResIpsaLoquitur — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:35:17 +0000

And for what it’s worth, even though Will Bunch gets blasted pretty regularly on here, I think he’s put up a pretty decent post on this latest news:

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Opening_a_new_chapter_11.html

By: ResIpsaLoquitur

ResIpsaLoquitur — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:31:05 +0000

There’s no denying that there still are good, hard-working journalists and creative folks at both the Inky and the DN, but the problems with the company – as with nearly every media company – lie with management and the external environment. We need strong, healthy and vibrant newspapers for our democratic society to function properly, and that’s why it’s so frustrating to see such important community institutions be tarnished with weakened news product and piss-poor economic management.

By: the_ill

the_ill — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:30:07 +0000

uh. nobody has the answer, seeing as how the inky isnt the only paper failing in this country. but putting out a sub-par, or even shitty product sure isnt gonna help.

By: amye

amye — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:25:57 +0000

nate, nobody who still works at 400 n. broad thinks that laying off writers like gauitra bahadur and rob watson and photographers like peter tobia and endlessly cutting has made the paper a better product. and nobody up there will defend the weirdness that is lisa scottoline’s newspaper column. but people lucky enough to still have jobs up there are still working their butts off to do good work for print and philly.com and are dedicated and loyal to every one who takes the time to read what we write, and there is plenty of good and thoughtful work being done. i would agree that cutting into the quality of the product is not a good business model. if you have an answer to the financial problems the company is in, feel free to offer it.

By: thicketdan

thicketdan — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:11:28 +0000

Not to mention the fact that they’ve clearly eviscerated the copy desk. The paper is riddled with typos, incorrect photo captions, and other signs that there just aren’t enough people checking it over before it goes to print. It’s offensive.

By: Nate

Nate — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:10:34 +0000

Much easier to pick on the straw man than address the real counterargument I made, isn’t it?

By: amye

amye — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:06:41 +0000

and in the future, without the papers, we can look forward to the pithy stylings of amateur writers who use tired pseudo-hip cliches like …wait for it.

By: John Lightstone

John Lightstone — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:53:15 +0000

Yeah, for example, the Inkys high priced famous columnist Lisa Scottoline comes up big time with a column on . . . wait for it . . . her pedicures! That’s driving readership, I’m sure.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/lisa_scottoline/20090222_Chick_Wit__Feet_no_fish_would_bite_on.html