Down the Tubes
If the outlook for newspapers isn't dire enough, Wick Allison, in Frontburner, tells us that the future of local TV is pretty dismal, too. A Wall Street Journal story speculates on the possibility of television networks like CBS and NBC moving to cable only, abandoning the network of local affiliates that has been the backbone of television since its inception. Because so much of their content is sourced from the network or syndicates, local television stations don't have the same option of moving to cable (or the Internet) that the networks (and newspapers) do.
As for newspapers, The Dallas Morning News published an op/ed column by Walter Isaacson championing the implementation of a micro-payment system for Internet news. He says that the free access that consumers have grown accustomed to is unsustainable. A simple, easy, anonymous micro-payment system would make all the difference in sustaining online news. But it doesn't exist yet.
By the way, a micro-payment system would also offer a way to kill spam, too. Every consumer could charge for dropping email into his inbox. If you want to reach me, it'll cost you, say, a tenth of a cent. This wouldn't be a barrier for my family and friends and legitimate businesses wanting to reach me personally, but it would become cost-prohibitive to the spammers who scattershoot millions of "v|*gra" emails in hopes of getting a 0.001% response rate.
What might be needed to get any sort of payment system for the news media in place is an antitrust exemption for news media, as suggested by the L.A. Times' Tim Rutten. That would allow them to collaborate on instituting a pay system. As it is, the company that goes first loses all its readers to the companies that still offer news for free. Necessary as it might be to save the newspapers, getting voter support for an antitrust exemption is a hundred times more difficult than the technical challenges of a micro-payment system. Ironically, the antitrust laws that were designed to promote healthy competition could end up killing the local newspaper.
If all this isn't enough, Sirius XM Radio is rumored to be close to filing for bankruptcy. Add satellite radio to the list of media going down the tubes.
Smackdown in the Editorial Boardroom
Mike Hashimoto, in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, asserts that President Obama "had constructed a false choice over his stimulus bill: if you oppose our bill, you favor doing nothing."
Hashimoto tells us that when he made this point in an editorial board meeting, an unidentified colleague objected, "contending that Obama had not said it quite so bluntly." Hashimoto takes the debate to the blog, posting this quote from Obama's news conference: "There seems to be a set of folks who -- I don't doubt their sincerity -- who just believe that we should do nothing."
Point for Hashimoto, right? Not so fast. Sharon Grigsby joined the public fray with this comment to Hashimoto's blog post:
"Obama said during his news conference Monday night that 'there are others who recognize that we've got to do a significant recovery package, but they're concerned about the mix of what's in there. And if they're sincere about it, then I'm happy to have conversations.'"
Takedown by Grigsby. Hashimoto was caught taking one Obama comment out of context and presenting it as the whole of Obama's opinion. Kudos to Grigsby for not letting him get away with it.
Oh, and by the say, Hashimoto should at least acknowledge that there are people who do believe we should just do nothing. For example, Robert Higgs, senior fellow in political economy for The Independent Institute, wrote an op/ed column for The Christian Science Monitor titled "Instead of stimulus, do nothing -- seriously."
2 comments:
Hackimoto strikes again!
Hashimoto overplayed his hand.
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