David Warren on the future of newspapers:
My preference was always for broadsheet over tabloid: for the widest practicable page with the greatest practicable accumulation of organized detail. The broadsheet page gives the reader a survey of events as no other medium. He will see things he'd otherwise miss, for searching. And because that page holds still, the reader's eyes have a chance to roam in an entirely conscious way. I have noticed that those who are raised on electronic text, almost to the exclusion of hard print, are nearly incapable of linear thinking. I have also noticed that lateral thinking is much oversold.
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I think the better minds in this field have realized that, just as people will always need food and clothing, they will always need reliable information, and they will not be well-served by the reduction of all news and commentary to entertainment. At the very least, those who need to know will always be willing to pay for intelligent reporting, and analysis.
The future of newspapers cannot be assured by making them any more frivolous or sensational. The other media can always beat us at that. Our medium has a future that points the other way.
The cost-cutting should be aimed at eliminating the frivolous, and concentrating instead on the classical function: fearless reportage and truth-seeking in a world that has always been too full of lies.
The cynic is inclined to say: Good Luck with that. One of the running themes of this blog is the eternal amidst the ephemeral. The Gods of the Copybook Headings as opposed to the Gods of the Marketplace. To some this seems like a hypocritical position for a free market blog. Doesn't the free marketer hold that the voice of the markets is the voice of God? Hardly. The marketplace is simply a mechanism efficient in organizing productive resource, moral because it reflects the right of free choice. This does not mean that the market is wise or omniscient. There are markets for tarot card readers, snake oil salesmen and the works of Michael Moore. To say that the market is correct in all its decisions is to commit the old fallacy of vox populi vox dei. Morality, justice and humanity are subordinated to popular vote. In a genuinely free market those who err must bear the consequences of their actions, this gives them every incentive not to repeat their mistakes. In the case of the welfare state the exact opposite occurs. Error and wickedness are rewarded and indeed offered pity by the administrative and political class. Bankers may become short-sighted in their actions, lending to those who cannot afford to repay. In a gold standard monetary system there will be no central banker to inflate them out of their poor decisions. A culture of irrationality can pervade for many years, even for decades, but the slaughter and terror always return. The broadsheet is dead today. If there is to be a tomorrow it will have to be revived.
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