Completely Unnecessary

If the Senate removes Blago from office, it’s really going to put a damper on my afternoon crazy schedule.

Blagojevich’s latest presser consisted largely of cowboy metaphors, the governor arguing that the Senate impeachment trial was similar to an Old West hanging. (If there’s video up later, I’ll try to post it because you actually need to hear how long and how hard he flogged his simile.)

The main thrust of his prepared (?) remarks was that he was prevented from calling witnesses and from challenging the charges. Blagojevich demanded his ‘constitutional right’ to a fair trial.

If they can do this to a governor, they can do this to any citizen in Illinois.

Except, of course, ‘they’ can’t because his impeachment trial is a political procedure, not a criminal procedure.

Insanely, he took questions and the first one pressed him on exactly that point. Blago ducked and weaved, but didn’t manage to have an answer, except to demand again a fair trial.

He hit his stride late in the question period, claiming that he is being targeted by lawmakers who view him as an impediment to their cynical tax rise on the people of Illinois. He argued that if the people if the state allow him to go down like this, it will have a chilling effect on future governors actions vs the legislature.

Rod is the only thing standing between us and our other elected officials (and their 66% tax hike).

Um.

Oh yeah, he also called upon Illinois newspapers to help his cause for a ‘fair’ trial. He urged the Chicago Tribune, in particular, to lead the charge, citing the Tribune’s Supreme Court case against ‘Minnesota mobsters’ and other crooks.

This man’s irony gauge needs a lot of adjusting.

Speaking of the Tribune, they have some good quotes I didn’t catch all of:

Ending his 43-minute interview, Blagojevich likened the current drama surrounding him “to a 21st Century Frank Capra movie… how the good guy was up against the establishment… But he stood firm for the people. That’s what this is about.”

Obviously.

Vaguely Related

• Will Blagojevich Take Others Down with Him?
• Roland Burris - Ready to Serve in the Senate

Minneapolis’ Star Tribune declared bankruptcy last night.

This is just the latest in the series, but demonstrates just how tough it is for papers these days.

The Strib has presumably been getting a boost from the Franken/Coleman debacle, but despite scanning every single challenged ballot, its web traffic is just not filling the ad gap.

Like most newspapers, the Star Tribune has experienced a sharp decline in print advertising. Its earnings before interest, taxes and debt payments were about $26 million in 2008, down from about $59 million in 2007 and $115 million in 2004.

Yikes.

The article also notes the recent purchase of the paper by private equity group,  Avista Capital Partners. Such fiscally-minded groups have generally not been as apt as family-owned companies to take a loss on their newsmaking, whilst balancing the books with other, more lucrative ventures.

In other bankruptcy-plagued news, the Chicago Tribune tried its damnedest this week to cut costs and produce a product someone wants to purchase.

In addition to last week’s re-redesign (which I’ll address in a minute), the Trib is now producing its single-copy paper as a tabloid, leaving its broadsheet to subscribing customers. [announcement and print version]

It’s unclear if readers will adopt/adapt to the latest Tribune change. After all, the Tribune’s truncated broadsheet isn’t some Age-sized behemoth. The change may also acclimate readers to the tabloid format, perhaps making them more likely to pick up the Sun Times, which is 25c less. Finally, given the new format, why would readers not pick up the Red Eye, which provides Tribune content in a tabloid format and is also free?

The Tribune presents these as positive changes, but - the aesthetic and cultural (elitist?!?)  impacts of a tabloid Tribune aside - the printing of two separate editions seems scattered. It makes the paper seem as though they’re scrambling, which, of course, they are.

I was going to say that a brave face, a la the NYT, might be a better approach. Then again, they may merely be trying anything to stay afloat at this point.

I do have some commendation for the Tribune, though. They redesigned their redesign this week (late last week?) and included a helpful pull out about it in the new edition. There was some PR-speak, but the Trib addressed some reader complaints head-on, saying of one aspect, ‘Yeah, we hated it too. It’s gone.’ (Not sure if that’s a direct quote.)

While there are still lots of things I hate about the redesign - such as the horrible Page 3, over-arting in most sections and the ed/op-ed in the back of the Business section - staying in communication with subscribers is the best possible way to keep your base.

Their (mostly) honest assessment of their work makes me more inclined to keep reading the Tribune than anything else they’ve done this year.

And that is what passes for an ‘attaboy’ in this media market.

Vaguely Related

• Another Chicago-Based First in the 2008 Election
• Wind (and a little bit of media studies!)

I don’t read the Huffington Post very often. Despite their sometimes informative content, they often resort to tacky, lefty-Drudge headlines.

Ironically, I had clicked over to HuffPo for an article on why the online mag can’t replace the NYT.

(Oh, and speaking of which, the NYT took umbrage with the Atlantic article I quoted yesterday. Perhaps rumors of her death have been greatly exaggerated - or NYT’s communications dept has a vested interest in not appearing vulnerable. Updated: Gawker’s Hamilton Nolan takes a crack at the latter point.)

Anyway, the Huffington Post would like you to know that Africans are backwards, barbarous freaks:

The actual story explains that Obama’s grandmother wanted to bring a spear and shield amongst other gifts for her grandson on the occasion of his inauguration. It’s unclear from the article if she’ll check it, but it seems likely that she fears it being damaged during the flight and wanted to carry it on.

“But I have been told that due to security reasons I will not be allowed to board a plane with it,” she explained.

Hopefully, she and the airline can work out a compromise. (God, I’d love to see what today’s TSA would do with my grandmother; she packed everything… She also used to pack up all the bread rolls from the restaurant table into her purse, but that’s a separate issue.)

Needless to say, I did not click through to ‘Read HuffPost’s Inauguration BigNews Page’.

I made an angry noise and took a screen capture.

Vaguely Related

• Search Terms of the Damned
• You Can Put Lipstick on the Election…

[Updated below]

Just a month ago, Detroit’s two dailies, the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, announced they would reduce home delivery to just three days a week. Except the mildly profitable Thursday, Friday and Sunday editions, non-delivery days will see truncated content.

This month’s Atlantic examines the plight of the NYT, and sketches out doomsday scenarios for the paper. The upshot? Though unlikely, the NYT’s paper edition could fold as soon as May 2009.

These cutbacks and death of the newspaper nightmares, however, pale in comparison to the actual and sudden death of Seattle’s Post-Intelligencer.

Reporters and newsroom staff were told to gather for an announcement midday on Friday where they were told that the P-I would be put up for sale by parent company, The Hearst Corp.

The chances of a buyer for the troubled paper are extremely low, and no one really sees a print edition remaining on the table if one did emerge.

For all intents and purposes, staff were told that the 146-year old paper will cease production within 60 days.

Many are discussing the move from paper editions to online editions, but it seems unlikely that web-based newspapers will be able to generate the amount of content (and more importantly, the quality of content) delivered by today’s newspapers.

The P-I’s article on its demise notes that a web edition of the paper would not be able to maintain the staff of the print edition. Hirschorn’s Atlantic article estimates that a web-only NYT would be forced to cut staff by 80%.

Outside of media professionals, few are making a fuss:

If you’re hearing few howls and seeing little rending of garments over the impending death of institutional, high-quality journalism, it’s because the public at large has been trained to undervalue journalists and journalism. The Internet has done much to encourage lazy news consumption, while virtually eradicating the meaningful distinctions among newspaper brands. The story from Beijing that pops up in my Google alert could have come from anywhere. As news resources are stretched and shared, it can often appear anywhere as well: a Los Angeles Times piece will show up in TheWashington Post, or vice versa.

That’s from the Hirschorn article, which I highly recommend. Also recommended is Eli Sanders’ evocative and sad posting on the P-I’s demise over at The Stranger.

There are many legitimate complaints about today’s newspapers (and god knows if you read this blog, you’ve heard many of them - and probably some illegitimate ones, too), but I would argue that they retain importance for our culture.

Without waxing overly romantic, newspapers provide us with a tangible, tactile record of our experiences. Holding the front page on November 5, 2008 is something no screen capture can replace. And while I get much of my news from the internet these days, reading the paper with a cup of coffee is a friendly, subtly comforting experience.

Newspapers have dug themselves some serious holes, many of which are destined to become graves in the current financial environment. The P-I is the first in what I fear will be a long line of papers to fold this year.

Best of luck to the staff and families of the P-I.

Update: The NYT’s communications dept takes issue with Hirschorn’s assessment.

Update II: Gawker’s Hamilton Nolan pushes back against the NYT’s letter, including some analysis of the NYT’s financial situation. Gawker also notes that the NYT’s online component would have to increase traffic sevenfold to survive without its print component. It already has the fifth highest traffic in the interwebs, so that kind of a jump seems unlikely, if nigh impossible.

Vaguely Related

• Cannibals, Whores, Child Molesters: The Age Has It All!
• Things I’ve Been Interacting With Lately