This email from Larry Froelich to Charles Buffum in response to the recent update from Buffum:
It's funny to reflect back on our days at the BJ now, realizing from the perspective of the Internet Age and how that is turning the newspaper business upside down, that we probably practiced journalism in its golden age, if it ever had one. The Twenties and Thirties were yellow, the Forties and Fifties grey, but the 60s and 70s were the bust-out decades: Vietnam, political assassinations, the race riots, Watergate, Pentagon Papers, Kent State, Nixon, Maidenburg, JSK and his Pulitzer, the insane politics of Summit County, it goes on and on. How could that journalism be practiced in today's climate? I've seen the paper I last worked at (Lexington Herald-Leader) become as skinny as a legal pad with 6-page sections and down to two news services. When I transferred there from Detroit, nightsiders had to wait until 6 pm to get a desk from the daysiders. Now there are so many empty "work stations" in the newsroom that you have to wonder how they get anything accomplished. Last Sunday, for example, there were only two locally generated stories in the Metro section. Hell you and Clary each produced more than that on a daily basis, and they were a darn side more interesting.
Sorry, I always get worked up when I see how the business is evolving. But I still don't believe it has to be inevitable.
No need to respond; I'm just venting. Suz and I keep wanting to get to the Big Apple for a visit. I'd loved to see both of you if/when we ever get there; we also have a number of Free Press expatriots who landed at the NYTimes and elsewhere.
But until then ...
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