WaPo, back in the day...

A fortnightly rant, FL-S style (halftime edition) with a h/t each to Michelle, Jenny, Vic, David, Rob, and the rest of the earnest, hardworking journalists out there working to keep it all real. 

To say the least: 2009 has been terrible for the Fourth Estate.

So far this year: The Rocky Mountain News - Colorado’s oldest daily newspaper run continuously for 150 years - is no more; the Christian Science Monitor and Seattle Post-Intelligencer have dropped their print editions; the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press have curtailed much of their home delivery; and WaPo has axed its business section while whittling down its Style section cartoon pages from three to two.  

Zippy the Pinhead and printers ink will soon part ways.

And Thursday I learned that my friend and fellow snark Rob Tannenbaum just got pink-slipped from his post at BLENDER Magazine which too is dropping its print edition.

‘Tis a shame; Rob’s a truly talented journalist with a lot to say.

Earlier this week, President Obama held his second televised news conference.  But he did not entertain questions from any print journalists.  It was striking not hearing the familiar names from WaPo, or McClatchy or TIME, or even NYTimes bylines.

And could that paragon of the Fourth Estate, the Free Lance-Star, be far behind? Will the brain trust on Amelia Street soon be forced by rising costs and plummeting paid-circulation and print ad-sales to go web-only?  As much as I believe that the FL-S is often an abject waste of precious forestry, I do think that our community would be less well-served if the rag were to go away.

Plus, what fun would life be if occasionally we couldn’t set our snark loose on the FL-S’ blue ribbon editorial team?

Creating a viable, sustainable online business model has proven difficult.  The NY Times tried selling access to portions of its print edition online (for an annual fee of $48).  The experiment proved to be a miserable failure and the program was cancelled.  

Adding insult to injury?  Online ad sales are not at all strong.

While many newspapers use recycled paper content, whole forests are still felled to create their printed words.  In one respect, the planet would be a better (and cooler) place with fewer print media outlets.

But a world without newspapers and magazines?  I fear that if and when that becomes situation-normal (SN), we will be even less well-informed and (AFU).  Our check against government waste, fraud, and abuse will have only token meaning.

We’ve elected a talented and thoughtful man our 44th president, one that truly understands the power and potential of electronic media and social networking.

But if media hold this President and his administration to the level of scrutiny it held his immediate predecessor, then we’ll all be the worse for it.  We’ll all be screwed.

To paraphrase the recently-retired ABC News veteran newsman and reliable skeptic Sam Donaldson: 

Hold on, Mr. President!