Nobody's business
In my last posting, I lament the disappearance of stock and mutual fund quote tables from a growing number of the country's newspapers (including the Times Standard). Directly on the heels of removing stock quotes at the beginning of 2008, the San Francisco Chronicle has now taken another step affecting their business news ... as of Feb 25, they've stopped providing a separate business section on Mondays and Tuesdays, merging it into the Sports section instead.
Rather than chide the Chron for dumbing down the paper by making business news less readily available, I have to admit that the venerable Bay Area newspaper is actually having serious financial difficulties and therefore taking several cost-cutting moves to stop the flow of red ink. They also promise their readers that the amount of business content will remain unchanged. I have to hand it to them in the manner in which they pulled off this feat.
This Monday and Tuesday, the Business Section ran at the back of the Chronicle Sports section, all right ... only it ran from back to front, they continued to give it a separate section letter, and the pagination ran backward for the entire Business content. Sports was Section C and Business was Section D. It was a novel way to read a newspaper -- backward.
As I was about to launch into another rant about how business was taking a back seat to entertainment, I noted that the Chron was consolidating other newspaper sections as well. On Sunday, Feb 24, the Insight (opinion) section was merged for the first time with the Book Review. An odd pairing, depending upon your point of view. On Mon Feb 25 and Tues Feb 26, the Calendar (entertainment) section included several pages of classified ads in the back. As a result, I stifled my criticism and chalked it up to belt tightening by the news print industry that has taken a number of financial hits.
Before I completely let the Chronicle off the hook, one of the the reasons I fume when newspapers play fast and loose is that I have high standards ... by way of example, let's look at another venerable news publication, the South China Morning Post, that bills itself as Hong Kong's premier English-language newspaper. Having spent a lot of time in Hong Kong from 1996 through 2001, I immediately took a liking to the SCMP. Some newspapers are easy to love, but when I tried to analyze my feelings I found the answers to be obvious (at least to me).
First, the newspaper had three business sections (count 'em, three), and the sports section was usually hidden behind one of the business sections. This speaks volumes about Chinese priorities. Next, their columnists were a mix of home-grown pundits and world-renown thinkers. One columnist in particular, Nury Vittachi, captured the real Hong Kong in his wry observations and glib bemusing. I ended up buying two of his books, and would meet him occasionally at selected HK pubs and dives. Finally, their comics included Calvin and Hobbs.
Who could ask for anything more?
Chris Crawford
www.justiceserved.com
photo credit = Microsoft clipart
Comments
Amen to that Chris. People tend to forget what really turns the economic wheel. Government spending is only a method of reallocating the dollars. Private industry, and the encouragement of it, are the only true methods of generating wealth in a community. Sure pulp is entertaining, but when you want to attract living wage employment the equation requires those willing to pay the required wages for the type of work involved. If we don't bring them in or grow them here the redistribution scheme starts to break down over time. Something to think about the next time the paper(s) get together to review who their target audiences are.
Posted by: Carlton Nielsen | February 27, 2008 07:46 PM
Chris:
Blame Dean Singleton, the Times-Standard's corporate owner. The SF Chron is surrounded by Singleton dailies in the Bay Area and is in a desperate struggle for survival. I believe the Chron is the only daily Singleton doesn't own down there. I have friends on the staffs of the Chron and the Singleton dailies. These are tough, tough times.
Posted by: Andrew Bird | February 28, 2008 12:33 PM