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Post by smartmouthwoman on Aug 7, 2013 0:56:55 GMT
*poof*
There goes another newspaper. It is sad... just not the same curling up with a cup of coffee and the computer on Sunday morning. No doubt we'll miss 'em when they're all gone. 
The Grahams Sell ‘The Washington Post,’ and Woodward Is Sad
Aug 6, 2013
The sale of ‘The Washington Post’ to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has stunned the paper’s old guard. The Graham family survived Nixon but not the Internet.
If Hell froze over, pigs took wing, sheep fell from the sky, and snow blanketed Hawaii, it still wouldn’t be as astonishing as Monday’s announcement that the storied Graham family is selling The Washington Post to a billionaire online-retailing entrepreneur.
The main entrance to ‘The Washington Post’ is seen on August 5, 2013, in Washington, D.C., after it was announced that Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has agreed to purchase the company for $250 million. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty)
Amazon.com founder and chief executive Jeffrey Bezos, whose net worth has been estimated at $28 billion, has agreed to pay $250 million in cash to take possession of the 136-year-old newspaper and several related media properties within 60 days. Bezos’s acquisition is personal, not corporate, so The Post will once again be a private entity—something it hasn’t been since the Grahams took the company public in 1971. In one of the more jarring aspects of the deal, the newspaper’s longtime parent company will be required to change its name (though it will keep its downtown Washington headquarters and several other real-estate holdings).
“It’s very sad,” said Post associate editor Bob Woodward, who, along with his partner Carl Bernstein under the leadership of executive editor Ben Bradlee, led the Post to a Pulitzer Prize for their investigation of Richard Nixon’s crime-ridden White House. “But if there’s somebody who can succeed, it’s Bezos. He’s the innovator, he’s got the money and the patience, so we’ll see. I think in some ways, this may be the Post’s last chance to survive, at least in some form of what it was.”
Woodward’s bittersweet reaction was typical of Post veterans, who were at once grief-stricken at the prospect of losing the Grahams as owners and hopeful that Bezos will find a way to save their jobs.
Read more: www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/06/bob-woodward-saddened-by-washington-post-sale-to-jeff-bezos.html
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Post by smartmouthwoman on Aug 7, 2013 0:58:10 GMT
I pulled a stint with The Dallas Morning News in the late 90's and in answer to technology, they came up with the 'cue cat' -- anybody ever heard of that? The were little mouse-like gadgets that you used to scan bar codes at the bottom of newspaper articles so your computer would go right there. I still remember the first time I heard of this new mktg strategy and had a real hard time keeping a straight face. What a dumb idea... and of course, it flopped. But not before they sunk a few million $ into the stupid things. (you could get one for free at Radio Shack)  Some old family-run newspapers are destined for extinction cuz they really don't have a clue. Cat. LOL |
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Post by cenydd on Aug 7, 2013 22:40:21 GMT
It's inevitable that newspapers have struggled, and will struggle, to keep up with the internet age, and that some will disappear, and others will be sold to people who they think can take them forward. The unfortunate thing is that some of those suffering most are the ones who have the best standards of journalism and balanced reporting, while some of those doing best are the sensationalist, populist rags riddled with gutter journalism and a lack of integrity. People seem to just want to read shock and horror, and to be wound up into a frenzy by their media outlets, rather than to read the facts put in a cool, rational and balanced way. It's as if they aren't happy if they aren't outraged over something. On top of that, it seems like the sex lives of petty, self-publicising, barely talented 'celebrities' are more important to the world than the real political issues that actually effect people's lives. I personally find all of that a sad comment on the state of the supposedly 'civilised' world.
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Post by JP5 on Aug 8, 2013 23:38:30 GMT
In many ways it's their own fault. They've failed the public. WP and others aren't the mainstream they used to be. They no longer engage in any investigative reporting....especially when it comes to an administration they have fallen so in love with. Objectivity for the most part is gone....and the pubic doesn't want to pay for it anymore. They are more of a mouthpiece for this administration and that is why the mainstream....not just the WaPo has become known as "the state run media/press."
I recently cancelled my morning newspaper.....after having been a subscriber for almost 20 years. There is several reasons I cancelled......first, their prices have continued to skyrocket until I was paying $380/yr for it. Secondly, I can read more of an assortment of news by looking at my computer each morning. Thirdly, I got tired of what they chose to appear on the front page....and what they continually did NOT choose to put on the front page. And lastly, the delivery person couldn't seem to throw outside our sprinkler system and I was tired of having a wet paper!
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Post by cenydd on Aug 9, 2013 10:20:17 GMT
And lastly, the delivery person couldn't seem to throw outside our sprinkler system and I was tired of having a wet paper! There is one possible advantage of living in the UK - the papers (and mail) are delivered through a letterbox in the front door, not just thrown across the garden! |
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Post by smartmouthwoman on Aug 9, 2013 18:13:41 GMT
The family who still run the Dallas paper also started the very first newspaper in the state of Texas... the Galveston Daily News in 1842. The papers archives were in my area when I worked there and I loved reading the old papers from the early 1900s. They would print one whole page of nothing bur 'housewives hints' about recipes and cleaning... it was fascinating stuff. Early papers certainly werent 'politically correct' --which is why you dont see many being reprinted for history lessons. To me, thats whats sad about seeing a family owned newspaper disappear... all that tradition. Gonna be interesting to see what the new owner has in mind for the ole gal.  |
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Post by cenydd on Aug 9, 2013 21:57:55 GMT
Early papers certainly werent 'politically correct' --which is why you dont see many being reprinted for history lessons. That's a shame - it seems to me like a pretty good reason for reprinting them, to give kids a view on how public attitudes used to be, and how things have generally changed for the better. |
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Post by smartmouthwoman on Aug 11, 2013 20:43:11 GMT
Early papers certainly werent 'politically correct' --which is why you dont see many being reprinted for history lessons. That's a shame - it seems to me like a pretty good reason for reprinting them, to give kids a view on how public attitudes used to be, and how things have generally changed for the better. The old papers (1885+) can be accessed online... however, it requires registration. I bet the topics are much the same as newspapers in your area during that time period. Do you have access to any of those? The Dallas Morning News Archives |
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Post by cenydd on Aug 11, 2013 22:05:27 GMT
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Post by smartmouthwoman on Aug 11, 2013 22:23:52 GMT
Thx for the links. Old newspapers are too kewl... even the ads. Luv it.
I always buy papers to bring home from my travels. The smaller the town, the more interesting the newspaper! Large papers put local news on the back burner long ago in the quest for breaking stories on the national front. Nowadays, there might be a big audience for community-based newspapers... like there was in 1885, eh?
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Post by Daisy on Aug 12, 2013 9:28:19 GMT
I checked out the Welsh papers which was interesting. Is learning Welsh in English Schools a requirement or is it an elective? |
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Post by cenydd on Aug 12, 2013 9:41:41 GMT
I checked out the Welsh papers which was interesting. Is learning Welsh in English Schools a requirement or is it an elective? Learning the Welsh language in Wales is compulsory up the the age of 16, although in English language schools I believe there is a choice of whether to take it as a full examined qualification option (a 'GCSE' - the externally examine qualifications kids do at 16), or to take it as just an 'extra', less formal, conversational class (with obviously less lesson time allocated to it). About 20% of kids in Wales go to Welsh medium schools (i.e. they are taught everything in the Welsh language). Strictly speaking, of course, in 'English' schools (which would be schools in England), it isn't an option at all! |
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