Conservative bloggers like to believe the reason that so many American newspapers are for sale, and why Time and Newsweek can now be called the skinny weeklies, is because of their biased reporting. Well, maybe. But they’ve always been biased. Back in the 1960s-70s, they were biased to the right, instead of the left.
Insiders, of course, blame the loss of advertising to the Internet, especially the classifieds, the lifeblood of many fish wrappers. I give this excuse far more credence than the bias. But I also have come to think that it’s the basic irrelevance of the content.
Political correctness, like whacking some radio talker when he makes a racist remark, has become the business of the front page, and endless scolding. News, unless it’s politically neutral or has a politically-correct peg, is simply no longer news. Like the first Muslim-honor beheading in New York, which is excused and shuffled off to join what’s left of the truss ads. Can’t criticise Islam. T’ain’t PC. Trouble is, PC is boring as well as gutless. So why read those who peddle it? Why not hunt the Internet for the real news? Not to mention the classifieds?
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 