Incidentally, it is thoroughly absorbant. That paper is right up my alley. So to speak.

No one is minding the store. Many of the newspapers have become staffed by establishment sycophants, incapable of independent thinking.

The problem with press coverage of this election wasn’t that they were too hard on McCain and Palin. They blew their credibility by giving Obama and Biden way too many free passes.

Why does Joe Biden get a free pass for citing the three-letter word “J-O-B-S”, while to this day Dan Quayle is pilloried for “P-O-T-A-T-O-E”?

I could go on with examples. A good press is skeptical of everything and everyone.

An additional problem is reporters’ lack of subject matter knowledge. Smaller newspapers and the Metro desk of larger papers have become a training ground for rookie reporters. The consequence of this is that few reporters have any institutional memory of the communities that they cover. This is reflected by the lack of depth present in many news stories.

Meanwhile, instability at newspapers has diverted a lot of young talent into other fields.

Who wants to bet a four-year undergraduate education, let alone a masters in journalism on a business dominated by layoffs? Hopefully saner minds will prevail and push newspapers into long-term stability and relevance in the digital age.

In terms of building print and online readership, newspapers need to get back to basics at selling themselves, including (1) hiring reporters who don’t need a GPS device to navigate the communities they cover, (2) Producing TV, Radio, and Billboard ads that answer the question, “Why is it worth my while to read your newspaper?”, and (3) Developing promotions to reward consistent, regular readership, and (4) Better utilizing online resources to gather and present information.