Remembering the baby in the bathwater

David Warsh, a former columnist with the Boston Globe, wrote a piece last year on the changing role of newspapers and the technological and demographic threats they face.

This passage is a useful counterpoint to the new tech triumphalism that has surfaced along with the Swift Boat Veterans story:

But there is nothing quite like a top-notch daily newspaper. Not only are they, as news executive Jack Fuller has described them in his book News Values, "powerful engines for discovery of truth," capable of committing dozens of thoughtful and experienced investigators to a major story on a moment's notice

While it is good to see new media challenge the blatant biases of the mainstream press, it is still true that they are not yet a substitute for a quality broadsheet daily or a newsweekly.

Cable news and talk radio increase the diversity of voices and sometimes can draw attention to facts that the MSM ignores. However, neither of them are real newsgathers. They are showcases for talking heads and pundits.

Murdoch's tabloids have brought fresh perspectives to their home markets but they have their weaknesses. While the NY Post's op-ed page may be more congenial that the Times's, the papers's news coverage lacks stamina. You do not see tabloids doing long investigative efforts-they are too poor to devote those kinds of resources to a project. Moreover, their goal is sensation -- the bold headline, the arresting photo. On some matters like crime or terrorism the tabloid approach works better than the drab "nuanced" style of the Times or Chicago Tribune. But you just cannot expect a tabloid to devote three days and 16,000 words to Putin's efforts to pacify Chechnya or the use of eminent domain to build mega-stores in depressed rural counties.