An explanation for the long delay between posts:
Dwelling daily on the cataclysmic decline of the newspaper business, especially when one takes ones living from said business, can be difficult. Perhaps not surprisingly, the stress of wondering whether you will have a job or a career tomorrow (as that may affect whether you have a house soon after) can cause physical issues. Still, it caught me off guard.
I’ve spent nearly 30 years in the newspaper business and know now that each day could be my last. If that should come to pass I won’t be going on to any other newspapers because they won’t be hiring. Heck, if I’m right many won’t even exist in the not too distant future.
Besides scaring my hair straight, that prospect made it difficult to sleep, hard to eat, and seems to have conjured a whole litany of actual physical ailments. Perhaps anti-anxiety meds will enable me to keep blogging on the subject. Then again, perhaps not.
There is not much in the way of an audience for my thoughts. This is predominantly to provide some small illusion of control over the monumental events swirling around me. I will simply stop if it contributes to the sense of being swallowed rather than floating on top.
I spent several years in the publishing industry, first for a major newspaper publisher and then for the publisher of several “small” magazines. It has been clear to me since 1996 that both newspapers and magazines are in a death spiral. The economic model of newspapers started dying the day that classified advertising started migrating to the web. The content model of the newspaper started dying when self-publishing on the web became commonplace.
I still receive the LA Times, but I’ve called to cancel it at least 3 times in the last two years. The only reason I’ve kept it is that when I call they lower my rate. For me the problem wiht the content is that anything I read in the Times I’ve already read on the web 1-3 days before. When I get up in the morning I fire up my computer and start reading blogs. Many of the articles that I read come from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers, but the bulk of the content comes from blogs.
When the last company that I worked for was sold I realized that it was time to accept the death of publishing as we have known it and to move on. I no longer work in the industry. I loved it; I loved publishing. I love newspapers and magazines. But, what is done is done.