I read the most delightful story about the New York Times getting ready for a mass firing of staff. One version of the story has the Sulzberger family driving the paper's stock price down so they can buy it back and privatize it. They are minority owners but they still have control of the company. That is why the nitwit young editor Pinch (son of Punch) Sulzberger is able to steer the Timestanic into the iceberg at flank speed.
In journalism class we have been studying the newspaper and media market for the last semester. The Minneapolis Star Tribune (Strib) is trying an initiative to boost circulation. I predicted it would have no lasting effect.
One factor in newspaper circulation decline is the non-reading lifestyle of younger adults. Reading the Moline Daily Dispatch was a family activity in our home in the 1950's. We also read the Sunday Chicago Tribune or Des Moines Register. Except for church, there was nothing to do on Sunday. Weekday evenings were not filled with events and activities. A common question was, "Who has the paper?" But now, I no longer see the Phoenix morning newspaper in the driveways of my neighbors, who are mostly older.
A more significant factor in newspaper decline is the Left-wing bias of the media. Watergate made journalism glamorous for reformers and gave hippies a chance to mount a podium for decent pay. I try to catch the glance of the pathetic dude promoting Arizona Republic subscriptions at the grocery store. I let the guy ask me about the latest offer, where they include a free truck, a year's worth of gas, a trip to Sweden, and more - all for subscribing to the Arizona Republic for one month. Actually, they did fill gas tanks for free in return for signing up. They give their pitch and I tell them why I will not even use their paper for birdcage liner. Even if I had a bird. Some laugh. Some call out, "Have a nice day."
The Left-wing has captured the denominations as well. Fuller Seminary cleverly got their agenda across by promoting Church Growth while denouncing the Bible as fallible. By training the entire leadership of Protestant America (and some Roman Catholic leaders) they got a unified message of man-centered marketing across. Demanding freedom to be heard in each denomination, they made sure anyone dissenting from their new-old message would be fired, shunned, and slandered. Thus denominations are fading as fast as the New York Times.
