Recession Survival Tips

The New York Times is planning to cut their newsroom staff by 8% by the end of the year.  Citing a steep decrease in advertising revenue, executive editor Bill Keller acknowledged the added burden that these cuts will add to an already overburdened staff.  Employees had already taken a 5% pay cut for the year.  Unfortunately, this does not bode well for the news industry or our free press.  The New York Times, in addition to other major newspapers, is in big trouble because they are losing money and will be unable to conduct the kind of in-depth investigative journalism that has broken major news stories.

The free press is a critical American institution.  With bloggers leading the forefront of a new, invigorated, alternative media, the idea of a free press is more robust than ever.  Unfortunately, due to the myriad of lightening quick ways that information can be disseminated, misinformation can be spread quickly as well.  Most bloggers and blog sites do not have the means, funding, and sources to do what the New York Times does.  This makes the alternative media a wonderful supplement for the mainstream press, but unfortunately, it would be an awful substitute.

It is tough to determine how best to resolve this dilemma.  You cannot force people to buy newspapers.  Many groups are conducting research about how to save this dying industry.  Many pundits do not believe that the death of newspapers poses any real risk for society.  I beg to differ.  Most of the major news stories have been broken by dedicated news reporters supported by newspapers with the resources necessary to allow them to break the big stories.  The death of newspaper journalism will be a void that bloggers and alternative press will be hard-pressed to fill.