The DMN Doesn't Cover Hyperlocal News
I read The Dallas Morning News online. I read a handful of their blogs. I read other local blogs. I know what to expect to find - and expect not to find - on each. So, I was not surprised to read about another round of layoffs coming at the DMN on PegasusNews, not the DMN itself. PegasusNews links to the story on Frontburner, so there is another news source with the story before the DMN itself. Finally, four and a half hours after Frontburner's story, Bruce Tomaso refers obliquely to the layoffs in a blog item on the DMN Religion blog titled, "From Thomas Merton, a prayer for uncertain times." Talk about burying the lede. His blog item is not about the layoffs, but about a prayer for uncertain times. He does link to an external site (not PegasusNews, not Frontburner) that includes the Belo letter to employees announcing the cost-cutting plans.
Ironically, earlier this week, Mike Hashimoto, on the DMN Opinion blog, posted an item discussing the sad state of the newspaper business model. Numerous readers had the same solution. "Chuck Bloom" said, "Local newspapers need to concentrate on 'local.'" What's more local than something happening right in the newsroom, all around the reporters busy at their phones and keyboards? Who is in a better position to report and comment? Who actually does? Not the DMN. Ironic, no?
Good luck to all the employees in the news business, including those at the DMN. But this tiny anecdote says something about why things are the way they are.
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