Tuesday, October 7, 2008
News / News Bites A terrible Tribune idea
Posted by Michael Miner on Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 6:33 PM
I recently wondered whether the Tribune would endorse Barack Obama or yet another Republican for president, and what either endorsement would signify, given all the changes at the top. It matters little if a newspaper hews to or departs from its traditions when those traditions no longer matter. And I was worried that the Tribune's no longer did.
But I didn't imagine what the Tribune has decided to do. It's polling its readers: "As we think about that choice, we want to hear from you," it says. "Do you support Barack Obama? Do you support John McCain? If you were writing an endorsement, what would you say?"
The Tribune doesn't promise to endorse the candidate its readers favor -- but why would it bother to ask if it's going to ignore what they say? It this is a stunt, it's stupid. If it's earnest, it's a disgrace. Bruce Dold, editor of the editorial page, tells me it's a "great idea" and explains, "We're considering our choice. We asked readers which candidate they would choose. We got a lot of interesting responses."
I'm sure they did. After all, the Tribune is teasing readers with the idea it will say what they want it to say, be what they want it to be. Their wildest fantasy.
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Michael, has it ever occurred to you that maybe the Tribune is feeling its way toward the obvious: that they are no longer the gatekeepers, but organizers of the discussion?
I assumed they couldn't think of any good reasons to endorse McCain and were hoping their readers would come up with some for them.
It's just part of the "new age" tribune. They're trying to get the readers involved in the process as if it were a community web site or blog or whatever. Trying ot make a newspaper "Interactive." Stupid, if you ask me. But I did have some friends who cancelled their subscription because of the VP debate drinking game primer that was in last week. Not that it was published, but that it was on PAGE 3 of the FRONT SECTION, not LIFE! or whatever the feature section is.
direct quote from Jim Kirk on the "new" Tribune in a seminar he held with PR Newswire yesterday. "If you picked up the paper section two days ago, which I hope you did, you'll find an article on a used car salesman who just had fire his last employee, who happens to be his son, on page one."
Oh, quit whining. What is so wrong with trying to get a sense for what your readers want?
Mike Miner is going a great job showing how the "new Tribune" has become a joke. I canceled my subscription because the paper is no longer meaningful. The journalism sucks! What's left? I can get clipart for free on my home computer.
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