Saila's Miscellany

Digital news must not mean cheap news

John Paxton, “In Defense of the Times-Picayune,” writes about the transformation underway at New Orleans’ top local newspaper: 

Could they do it better? I think they could do it a lot better but they are attempting to dramatically change their business.

And it is a change largely directed at a future that focuses on the new line of business and less on the old.

Importantly, they remain committed to their core business and mission with what resources they have.

From what I’ve seen, and I’m definitely not an expert on this publication, the owners are proving the cliché that going digital means dropping experienced reporters and focusing on lighter stories.

(The Seattle Post-Intelligencer did the same thing three years ago.)

This is not the “core model and mission” the industry should be celebrating as it attempts to build a fiscally successfully business out of journalism.

If we abandon quality, the news audience will soon enough abandon us altogether.