More Sad News for the News Industry

The slumping economy has changed the landscape for many industries looking to operate with a smaller workforce. The newspaper industry is one that has been at the top of the heap — facing decling circulation and ad sales in the age of 24/7 cable news and the Internet. This week, the Los Angeles Times announced it will cut 250 positions and merge its print and online departments. As if that isn’t sad enough, the tangible aftershock (for those of us who are readers, not the employees) is the paper will decrease content by 15 percent each week by eliminating some sections and trimming story lengths. This announcement comes on the heels of the Detroit Media Partnership announcing more buyouts for the employees of the Detroit News and The Detroit Free Press.
Unfortunately, like these news organizations, I have no insight on the answer to this ever-growing crisis. News is sociey’s watchdog. All I know is that it is a sad day when enlightened reporters are forced to write less and nibble rather than dig in deep to a beat due to a shrinking workforce.