David Carr writes a column for the Monday Business section of the New York Times that focuses on media issues that he has been writing about for more than 25 years.
On Monday, May 22, he wrote about “The Conversation” which has become a regular occurrence at places like the Beacon Journal and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Talking to the editor of a major newspaper, Carr was asked, “How old are you?” Carr replied, “Forty-nine” and the edtior told him, “Me, too. Do you think we can outrun this thing."
Carr thinks he might, but he worries about a young friend, Michael Currie Schaffer,age 32, a Fulbright scholar and Iraq war correspondent who now covers City Hall for the Philadelphia Inquirer
But now the Inquirer has been sold and Schaffer is going on a two-week trip with his wife. Schaffer loves the job, but is not precisely sure what kind of newspaper he will be returning to.
The Inquirer was once a sprawling enterprise with bureaus all over the world. Over time, the leadership at The Inquirer was pushed hard for cuts and greater profits by Anthony Ridder, chief executive of the papers — even though the paper had earned hundreds of millions of dollars.
According to The Columbia Journalism Review, Mr. Ridder responded to a huge prize year in 1987 by saying that he would like the paper "to win a Pulitzer for cost-cutting."
He got his wish.
Now, Carr concludes, “Perhaps Mr. Ridder can use some of his $9.4 million severance to fund a study on the demise of the American daily newspaper."
Click on the headline above to read Carr’s provocative column.
[Thanks to Charlie Buffum for calling our attention to it]
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