Regression of Print Media
by Larry Gilbert

It was inevitable. A few years ago Terry Horne, former President and Publisher of the Register, told us that the younger generation is getting their news from the Internet, which has a major impact on the print media.

I just received a post pointing out that the SF Chronicle was losing reporters that reduced their coverage at the Capitol. However, as a blogger for the past decade, this is not a new story for me. In the Dec 2006 issue of GOVERNING magazine a headline read: “BlackOut--Big city newspapers aren't telling the citizens the things they need to know,” by Rob Gurwitt. From that issue I quote: “But a few months ago, when Mayor Francis Slay of St. Louis took aim at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he skipped the standard complaints about bias or sensationalism. Instead, he charged in his blog that staff cuts and other changes at the newspaper were hurting the city itself." Reading further: "The paper's current struggling fiscal health and demoralized voice are drags on our own civic renaissance."

Sidebar. One positive note is that Steven Greenhut will be writing for a San Diego paper. We need to clone Steve, whose coverage has always been fair and balanced.