The hissy fit thrown by Buzz Bissinger on the set of whatever-Bob-Costas’-HBO-show-is-called has been well-documented on blogs everywhere the past few days, but this article in this week’s edition of The Economist might help us better understand the source of Buzz’s anger.
The piece details the increasingly dire situation of the New York Times, a paper that Buzz often contributes to, and other American print media outlets, who for are now faced with an evolve or die proposition. Subscription rates at the Times have fallen 3.9% over the last year. More importantly, as far as newspapers are concerned, both its advertising revenue (-12.5%) and share price (-20%) have also dropped during the past year.
The Economist goes on to highlight some ideas that papers like the NYT might consider in making in order to stop the bleeding. It mentions the Huffington Post, which has slowly transformed itself from a collection of blogs into a full fledged online newspaper. It also suggests papers like the Times need to beef up their business sections, or at become more specific in their coverage — like covering local events more intensely. I think Buzz might do a nice job covering, say, the area surrounding Yankee Stadium, specifically Hunts Point. Maybe he can take a straw poll of how many residents have read W.C. Heinz.
The audio version of the entire Economist article can be found here.
4 responses so far ↓
1 EW // May 5, 2008 at 6:36 am
Buzz Bissinger isn’t really the New York Times’ Buzz Bissinger. He writes articles that appear in the Times once in a while, but he’s not an NYT staffer. He’s a nationally known freelance writer whose work occasionally appears in the NYT. He no more works for the NYT than does Will Leitch (who’s also had articles appear in the NYT). Just sayin’.
2 Shinsano // May 5, 2008 at 7:59 am
It’s an important note. I went ahead and changed the post to reflect that.
3 Gary Garland // May 5, 2008 at 12:55 pm
The problem with Bissinger’s tirade was the fact that it is another reflection of how the elite mediacrats in this country look down on the public they are supposed to serve. There have actually been books out recently whining that the internet has made the dissemination of information “too democratic,” that the culture needs a cadre of editors to give information focus and direction. Or to pulverize it into intellectual Gerber baby food for the masses in order to make them easier to control and/or exploit.
The bugaboo there is that society and history themselves are inherently messy affairs. That blogs run the gamut from the totally useless and inane to informative and important to their chosen areas should thus astonish nobody. It is just a new part of the marketplace of ideas, just as hybrid cars are a new segment of the auto market. They each have their uses for the public.
Bissinger lamented what he saw as the “cruelty” of blogs, but I am still waiting for him to urge the NY Post to go out of business or for Fox News to fold up its tent for the crap it splats over the airwaves on a daily basis. As long as the elite media is going to allow a Bill O’Reilly, a Glenn Beck, a Rush Limbaugh, hell, lets go back to Father Coughlin and Joe Pyne, then it has no right to criticize Will Leitch (whose site has more laughs per hour this side of The Onion) for the snarky approach he takes to sports on Deadspin.
I mean, c’mon Buzz. If you are saying we should watch Eyewitness News over reading a blog such as Daily Kos you’re an idiot. Seriously.
4 Shinsano // May 5, 2008 at 10:31 pm
That’s a good point about papers like the Post. That rag is absolutely vicious at times. Funny, the Post is vicious, but not a threat to someone like Buzz.
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