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Newspapers' role in cheering on, validating, and accelerating the Trillion Dollar Housing Bubble helped seal their death warrant. In addition (especially in thi

by Hubbert 16y ago

Newspapers' role in cheering on, validating, and accelerating the Trillion Dollar Housing Bubble helped seal their death warrant. In addition (especially in this case), many "reporters" functioned merely as stenographers for interested parties ("Home prices remain fundamentally strong, according to the National Association of Realtors). It was especially obvious when I found well-informed Web sites blogs that would intelligently dissect and contradict the bad "reporting" on the subject.

brandnewlow 16y ago
Yes, that happened to a certain extent. My point with this submission was to show that the unasked for advice that webby people always seem to be giving newspapers: "focus on your core strength, in depth reporting and expertise" isn't actually a new concept at all. Here's a major metropolitan daily basing an ad campaign around "Take an expert with you." I found that a little surprising.
- RyanMcGreal 16y ago
  When access to expertise was a scarce and valuable commodity, marketing it to readers was a sound business strategy.
RyanMcGreal 16y ago
For me the death-knell of mainstream media credibility was their role in cheering on, validating and accelerating the illegal, appalling and abysmal invasion and occupation of Iraq. Edit: I'd love to know why someone downvoted this comment.
- jbm 16y ago
  Let me preface this by saying I didn't vote you down (Not the right karma threshold, and I wouldn't bother to do so either). Furthermore, I agree with your sentiment, although I disagree with the premise; that people stopped trusting newspapers over Iraq. Why not over Viet Nam? That said - partisan, knee-jerk analysis on HN will only lead to HN being another Digg (with people only reading stories that reinforce preconceptions and congregating around certain users). In the end, if you express an opinion that isn't based on data, and doesn't have anything else about how you reached the opinion, you will probably be modded down by someone.
anamax 16y ago
It wasn't just housing, or housing plus the war. It was pretty much everything. Newspapers have always gotten a lot of content from press releases. Now that we can those from the source, and we can easily get things from other sources, few people are willing to pay for press releases on newsprint.

by Hubbert 16y ago

brandnewlow 16y ago

Yes, that happened to a certain extent. My point with this submission was to show that the unasked for advice that webby people always seem to be giving newspapers: "focus on your core strength, in depth reporting and expertise" isn't actually a new concept at all. Here's a major metropolitan daily basing an ad campaign around "Take an expert with you." I found that a little surprising.

RyanMcGreal 16y ago
When access to expertise was a scarce and valuable commodity, marketing it to readers was a sound business strategy.

RyanMcGreal 16y ago

For me the death-knell of mainstream media credibility was their role in cheering on, validating and accelerating the illegal, appalling and abysmal invasion and occupation of Iraq. Edit: I'd love to know why someone downvoted this comment.

jbm 16y ago
Let me preface this by saying I didn't vote you down (Not the right karma threshold, and I wouldn't bother to do so either). Furthermore, I agree with your sentiment, although I disagree with the premise; that people stopped trusting newspapers over Iraq. Why not over Viet Nam? That said - partisan, knee-jerk analysis on HN will only lead to HN being another Digg (with people only reading stories that reinforce preconceptions and congregating around certain users). In the end, if you express an opinion that isn't based on data, and doesn't have anything else about how you reached the opinion, you will probably be modded down by someone.

anamax 16y ago

It wasn't just housing, or housing plus the war. It was pretty much everything. Newspapers have always gotten a lot of content from press releases. Now that we can those from the source, and we can easily get things from other sources, few people are willing to pay for press releases on newsprint.