Hard to believe newspapers are in trouble…

Updated on June 23, 2009 By Ken Begg 19 Comments

Let’s take a look at the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times this morning.  Top banner story with illustration of the couple: Jon Minus Kate.  Well, that’s news.

In the middle, big color photo of a crowd…protesters in Iran?  Uhm, nope, prospective American Idol contestants.

Along to the side…wow, an actual story (sort of).  Former suburban cop of the year beats on suburban police chief after catching the guy with his estranged wife.  That’s news of a kind, I suppose.

Under that, a small blurb about the arrest of a local businessman involved in financial scandal, following his suicide attempt.

And, finally…a ‘link’ to a gossip column story about Johnny Depp leaving a waiter a huge tip at local Chicago steakhouse Gibson’s.

Of course, there’s a lot of other stories to be found in today’s paper, apparently less important ones since they didn’t make the cover like Depp’s tip.  Still, 75 cents well spent, one must say.

Pin It



Related Posts

  • Ericb

    In NY the Post gives us Cris Brown and Rianna

    http://www.nypost.com/seven/06232009/frontback.htm

    At least the Daily News tried to squeese in some local news on the front page. If course not in a way to draw attention from the more important news of the day like Cris Brown and Rianna (again) and the fact that the new Transformers movie gets 3 stars.

    http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/06/23/gal_frontpage_0623.jpg

  • David Fullam

    Is your local newspaper run by the same idiots who run mine? Sure reads like it!

  • Sad times when USA Today is starting to become the only newspaper with real news.

    This is why I stick to the Wall Street Journal, despite its lack of the funny pages.

  • I recommend the 1941 film THE FRONT PAGE as IMO one of the two best movies ever about newspapermen. (The other is ACE IN TEH HOLE.) It has been remade a bunch of times, including as the much better-known HIS GIRL FRIDAY, but the old 1931 version still holds up. Plus it features Edward Everett Horton …

  • EFH

    Is it me or is there a pattern to this sort of failure? You do something to boost viewers/ratings/what have you, then it works (or is perceived to have worked) so they do it more.

    Then it starts to fall apart. The response it to do the thing that’s causing failure with more determination.

  • And people yelled at George W. Bush because he said he didn’t read newspapers. Can you blame him when meaningless drivel is front page news?

  • EFH

    As irritating as my local paper can be, at least the Iran stuff (And North Korean stuff last week) was front and center. Yesterday a story about how the local minor league team might no longer be a team due to a bad field was front page news. Hey, it’s Vermont as it is kinda big news locally.

  • Petoht

    Meh. The Sun-Times has been fluff for years now. I still remember when Aunt Jamima changing their instant pancake recipe was front page news (along with Aurora changing the color of their street signs). That was the day I completely gave up on the Sun-Times. I don’t care how slow a news day it is, the change to freaking pancakes is not front page news.

  • Ericb

    Regarding the President reads, you’d think that the President of the United States would at least read (or even skim) the international section of The Economist every week.

  • Mr. Rational

    I was unaware that the Economist was now considered a newspaper. Sure looks like a magazine to me.

  • Matt B

    Why?

    Look, every US President tends to be rather busy. Do you honestly thing that The Economist will bring to his attention something that hasn’t been brought up (and likely with greater depth and quality of information) by the State Department, the CIA or the military at a daily briefing? Or that a 1000 word article will be more important than reading a 40 page summary of what laws Congress passed this week?

    He’s got a staff. Let them read the paper. The President’s time can be better used elsewhere.

  • Ericb

    Judging from the actions of some presidents and the quality of our intelligence operations it couldn’t hurt. My point was that a president needs to get out of his bubble sometimes and a magazine like the Economist could give him a quick review of what’s going in the world from a sympathetic (e.g. pro-American) yet foreign vantagepoint. It shouldn’t replace intelligence briefings. It’s a hell of a lot more contrictive than listening to George Carville or Karl Rove.

    And I know it’s a magazine and not a newspaper which is why I wrote “what the president reads” rather than “newspaper.”

  • Mr. Rational

    My apologies. Apparently I made the mistake of assuming that your comment was meant to follow directly from the previous comment about Bush’s newspaper habits, based on context clues. Clearly I was wrong, and you had intended all along to address a different subject while nevertheless attempting to appear to be addressing the same one. My bad.

  • Mr. Rational

    My apologies. Apparently I made the mistake of assuming that your comment was meant to follow directly from the previous comment about Bush’s newspaper habits, based on context clues. Clearly I was wrong, and you had intended all along to address a different subject while nevertheless attempting to appear to be addressing the same one. My bad.

  • Ericb

    I was just making comment on the thread that was somewhat related to a previous comment. The subject was presidential reading habits. I made a comment on presidential reading habits and I said so in the post. I don’t see what the big deal is. Ok maybe I should have said “Regarding presidents’ reading habits (not just newspapers)…” Sorry.

  • Danny

    The only American journalist in Iran after the election worked for the *Daily Show with John Stewart*.

    That’s really all you need to know about the American media.

    (It’s worth checking out some of the reports he filed over on Hulu, though)

  • EFH

    On the presidential news paper issue. From what I gather (from some documentary on the inner workings of the white house many moons ago) the president, vice president, and so on read (or read to by and aide) what amounts to a paper made by cutting and pasting parts of other news papers.

  • I long for the days of William Randolph Hearst, when the newspapermen simply told our politicians what to do.

  • Mr. Rational

    Then welcome to today, Sandy, because it’s EXACTLY like that. Only in reverse.