Sunday, January 25, 2009

Newspapers are dying

Okay, the headline is not anything surprising. In the past year, several papers in Wisconsin have undergone extensive changes, such as the Capital Times (online only now) and the Superior Daily Telegram (now just publishing twice a week).

Chicken or the egg conundrum: Was the lack of revenue for papers leading to shoddy reporting, or was shoddy reporting leading to lack of revenue?

One paper that has done a great job over these tough times is the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. They cover Madison better than the Wisconsin State Journal or Cap Times does combined. Seriously! You'll find more stories on Madison business, politics, etc. in the MJS than in either the WSJ or TCT.

Why are these Madison papers so lazy? I know for a fact they get several major announcements in the form of press releases every now and then, and they never write about the subject, while the MJS does.

Plus, the MJS still does a lot of in-depth reporting. Read this column about the Journal-Sentinel's efforts to remain a strong publication.

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