Our Primary Goal Was Reached

When this petition was launched, the goal was to get people outside of journalism to realize that the many closures of newspapers in the past couple years was more than a tragic tale of unemployment, but moreover a serious threat to American Democracy, the loss of watchdogs at the international, national, state and local levels.

As stated several times during the course of the six-month campaign, this was not about saving jobs, or maintaining "paper" newspapers.

We wanted to encourage people to think about what it would mean to lose newspapers — the largest employers of professionally trained and ethically bound journalists.

We achieved that.

The effort was covered by blogs, publications and radio programs around the world. At last count, more than 60 different news organizations had written about the Know Newspapers Petition.

Of course, some will point to the signatures — fewer than 500 of them. It is a rather low number, but, as stated early on, not a surprise. Journalists by their very nature avoid signing petitions of any kind, even those that express dire concerns they personally share.

The problem hasn't gone away, and I for one will continue to try to raise awareness. But this particular effort has expired. The deadline was July 4, 2009.

This site went dark during that period, but it has since been restored for anyone seeking to reference the materials gathered here.

Thank you for your support.

-- TJ Sullivan

End Times

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(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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Another Crazy Idea ...

Apparently inspired by Sunday's column in The New York Times by Frank Rich, someone at the CEJournal suggests essentially the very same action proposed right here at Know Newspapers back in February with "The Petition to Unplug."

Please visit our FAQ at this link to learn more about the effort.

Here's a snippet from the similar suggestion made recently at CEJournal:

"What if journalism went on strike for, say, a week? No Boulder Daily Camera, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, no ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN (but Fox can continue because it’s not journalism) for an entire week. No WINS radio or KQED. No Time or Newsweek, and no Associated Press dispatches. ESPN? It goes dark. All sources of news, investigation, and non-fiction narrative — off the air, off the Internet and off the newsstands for a week.

What would Google News and all the other blood-sucking news aggregators do? Where would bloggers like me get their bloviational fodder? How would citizens know that a deadly new strain of pandemic flu had just broken out in their local high school? How would they hear that the Taliban in Pakistan had just stolen a nuclear weapon and were threatening to blow up New York City?"

Be sure to read the column by Frank Rich, who observes "Whatever shape journalism ultimately takes in America, make no mistake that in the end we will get what we pay for."

As for the petition ... it has less than 500 signatures to show for more than three months of effort, a situation that I hope is mostly the result of how averse journalists are to signing petitions.

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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Why Didn't We Think of That?

From a Q&A with The Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodricks, as published online by SpliceToday:

"If the industry doesn’t figure out how to make money off the Internet we’re doomed. The leaner staff works for that, not for print, so I hope they know what they’re doing. I think newspapers should collude, shut down their websites on a Monday, re-open on a Tuesday, charging a small Pay Pal-style gateway fee for all users. People want what we produce; they just want it online. But they have to pay for it, even a nickel a view."

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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'The Onion' to Nix LA Print Edition

Now even the "fake news" newspapers are cutting back.

The Onion reportedly plans to shut down its print editions in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

General reaction in car-obsessed LA: There was a print edition?

Here's a snippet from MinnPost.com:

Trying to fulfill Monday's promise to get more details on how the Onion's Twin Cities edition is faring, and whether they'll keep printing here, I received a memo from Onion World Headquarters.

It's good news, for now at least. The humor conglomerate confirms published reports it's shutting down L.A. and San Francisco editions, but has "no plans at this time to cease publication in any of our other markets," writes CEO Steve Hannah.

MinnPost.com also quotes the memo, which includes this tidbit:

Overall, we are weathering the storm, and, as you know, we have avoided taking many of the draconian measures employed by other media companies. Unfortunately, despite healthy readership in both Los Angeles and San Francisco (readership has actually risen despite our reduction in copies in recent months) the advertising in both cities has been abysmal.

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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No Bailout ... For Obvious Reasons

No bailout for newspapers, not that anyone in their right mind was considering one to begin with.

Here's a snippet from AFP:

The White House on Monday expressed "concern" and "sadness" over the state of the ailing US newspaper industry, but made clear that a government bailout was not in the cards.

"I don't know what, in all honesty, government can do about it," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters. "That might be a bit of a tricky area to get into given the differing roles."

Gibbs was responding to a reporter who asked what the White House thought about the recent closure of several US newspapers and a threat to shut down the venerable Boston Globe.

"Obviously (President Barack Obama) believes there has to be a strong free press," the spokesman said. "I think there's a certain concern and a certain sadness when you see cities losing their newspapers or regions of the country losing their newspapers."

(Twitter This)

-- TJ Sullivan

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