Fear and Loathing in the Media

Amid the news of newspaper bankruptcies--the Tribune for one, most recently the Philly paper--fear and loathing in the media: The Chicago Journalism Townhall. I see Fran attended from Illinois Review and I followed some twitter posts from Anna Tarkov.

I don't consider myself a journalist but I do consider myself new media. Maybe even a pundit, from time to time:) I definitely have an opinion, and I advocate for it. One of the reasons I started blogging was poor coverage on local issues in the village real estate rag and liberal bias in the Chicago papers. Ultimately letters to the editor were not enough, especially when they were censored or totally cut--I wanted to leverage my conservative voice--to encourage my friends and persuade others as I could, day by day, issue by issue.

I have been paid for my blogging efforts from time to time which is nice, and I put up a few ads. Agreed, I don't make a living from it and don't expect to. But while I mine news from old media websites I link to them as well, helping to drive up their traffic, such as it is. I know there was certainly an impact during the primaries when I was channeling nationwide Mitt Romney traffic. And I do think I have given MSM some story ideas and opinions that have helped frame an issue or two. My coverage of Barack Obama and Illinois politics I think provided a resource for reporters and other bloggers--and I believe I was pretty accurate in predicting the kind of president he would be--leftist and raw. As far as the local issues there is nothing like a little spotlight and a little mockery to encourage more sensible behavior.

For too long the media did not have enough competition--now they think they have too much. Welcome to the real world. And after the slavish adoration of our new president by much of the MSM--to the point when even Democrats in the general public admitted it-- at least we alternative media voices are not going away any time soon.

And maybe many in the old media will think twice about continuously bad-mouthing the private sector that works and pays for the advertising that has kept them going for so many years.

P.S. I may have been a bit harsh. I will just add that I have been reading newspapers for 40 years, and I still read 4 print editions a day--delivered to my door when I am in town. So I do support the journalists therein whether I agree with them or not. I will also say I often agree with editorials and columnists, and where I find excellent stories I link to them all as well.