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TIMED_OUT

                                             April   17, 2007
                                             January 24, 2010

   There's a question floating around
   something like "is the internet
   killing real journalism?"               But wouldn't you need to
                                           find some real journalism
   In my own case, I was beginning         in order to kill it?
   to give up on paying for print
   media news long before it became
   available on the web: this was
   entirely out of disgust at
   editorial standards.

   Everything I used to have subscriptions
   to (The New York Times, The Economist)
   has at some point done something so          In the case of the
   sleazy I felt I couldn't give them any       Economist, which one
   more of my money.                            does not expect to be
                                                exactly liberal in any
   In the case of the New York Times            case, the final straw
   there were many little things that           was calling the CIA's
   gave me pause, but I think the               complicity in
   last straw was the way thay handled          kidnapping and torture
   Gary Webb's book "Dark Alliance".            "shenanigans".

       They ignored it for ages,                   RHETORICAL_LOAD
       then misrepresented it's
       thesis with an out-of-context               (But then, I guess
       quote.                                      that was post web.)

                [ref]

   But if it wasn't that, it'd be something
   else... for example the way they Times has
   handled reviewing Paul Krugman's books
   (critical, negative reviews would be
   okay... critical, negative and *stupid*
   is unforgiveable).

   Then there's hiring Irving Kristol,
   perhaps to "provide balance"?  But once         (Thankfully, they
   again, conservative would be okay,              later fired the
   conservative and *stupid*, however...           idiot, but still.)

   And there is, of course, Judith Miller.
   They got rid of her, but only after she did
   some severe damage to the United States.
   And they still keep her partner in crime,
   Michael Gordon around.
                                                       COCKBURN_TIMES_OUT


   There's many another thing one might cite:

          FROM_BOTH_SIDES_NOW

          DOING_THE_LIBERAL_RAG

          TIMES_AGAINST_DARKNESS

  Generalizing from a single anecdotal case
  (my own) to the entire market would be
  pretty crazy... but it does seem to me
  that the Times audience probably splits
  up into two camps:

  Let's call them (for lack of better
  terms) the "conscious" and the
  "clueless".

  The Times has done something to alienate
  nearly everyone in the first camp (and
  done very little positive to make one
  feel it balances out).  And as for the
  people in the second camp, they're not
  *really* interested in the news, and
  are more likely to feel like it's stupid
  to pay for something you can get for free
  on-line...


             So, what made *you* swear off ever
             giving the New York Times another
             dime of your money?





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