Whenever I sit down to write a column and a litany of caveats immediately come to mind, I seriously start thinking about moving on to the next topic. And that’s what almost happened here! But when you consider the stakes and the minor stipulations involved, I decided to go with it anyway.
Some of you will insist that “the columnist doth protest too much, methinks,” but this effort is NOT a case of schadenfreude. Despite my unceremonious departure from those former Sun-Times newspapers, without those Beacon- and Courier-News editors, I wouldn’t be half the journalist I am today.
In fact, without those editors I probably would’ve moved on to something else after three guest views for the Chronicle.
I still rely on those now Tribune-owned papers to cover topics that require further investigation, too. Despite my magnificent sources, one writer can’t possibly keep up with everything. When the Courier reports that Elgin hired a diversity consultant, or the Beacon describes the latest Aurora City Hall initiative, it’s worth its weight in gold
So, if the Tribune’s new owners, Alden Global Capital, make the expected massive cuts, those suburban papers might be history and my non-paying job is gonna get even more difficult. Put more simply, I take no karmic glee in their possible demise.
Then there’s this! From nearly day one with the Beacon-News, I never liked Denise Crosby and she dislikes me even more. Though it was one of her columns that inspired this one, this isn’t as much about Ms. Crosby as it is about three separate Tribune writers begging for a major investor to save them from those impending Alden Global Capital chainsaws.
Of course, there’s nothing inherently evil about begging to save your job, but in this case, it’s beyond disingenuous, particularly coming from Crosby.
If a public or private entity that never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity tried this kind of save-us-from-ourselves public ploy, the local media would be all over it, and those articles wouldn’t be too terribly supportive, either.
And when I say “save us from ourselves” I’m talking about newspapers:
- Initially giving their Net content away so readers learned to expected it.
- Failing to fight to save the lucrative classified ads from Craigslist.
- The mediocre “yes” men forced out the talented folks by telling their bosses what they wanted to hear instead of the truth.
- Cutting local newsrooms and news coverage to the bone at a time when hyper-local news was the only thing that set them apart from their Internet competitors.
So, what these columnists are essentially saying is, “Please provide us with more cash so we can buy more ammunition to continue to shoot ourselves in the foot and other various body parts because that’ll certainly stop the bleeding!”
Right! While I certainly understand and feel their pain, if those columnists, reporters, editors and publishers want to ferret out the scurrilous folks responsible for newspaper’s demise, all they have to do is look in their bathroom mirrors.
But Crosby’s appeal is uniquely disingenuous because she’s the last of the well-paid inhouse suburban columnists, so when the Alden dust settles, she’ll be the first to go. Why pay 50 to 60 grand a year for mediocre content when you can get a freelancer to do it for pennies?
Crosby’s argument in seeking a financial savior, and to get more subscribers, was that local government would run amok in a newspaperless world, “vibrant” cities like Aurora and Elgin require reasonable coverage, and the local print media is the guardian of Democracy and all things holy.
And it’s exactly this “we know what’s better for you” arrogance that’s been at the heart of the newspaper depression paradigm since the day it started in 2007. “Subscribe to us because you should?” What Crosby, and her ilk fail to realize is, if you create a product people actually want, they’ll be more than to pay for it.
The Wall Street Journal isn’t having any problem selling papers.
As far as Crosby’s heralded local coverage goes, when was the last time the Beacon or Courier broke a real news story? The First Ward breaks more stories in a month than all of the suburban Tribune papers do in a year. Even the Chronicle has stepped up with some great investigative reporting recently, so it can certainly still be done.
I hardly call hiring stringers (cheap freelance reporters) to watch municipal and county meeting videos “covering” local politics It’s lazy journalism and it shows. And Crosby and the gaggle of freelance columnists are even worse. Here’s a list of their most recent topics:
- An Aurora tennis program
- Stealing morels from forest preserves
- Former Bear Steve McMichael
- The Reverend Paul House
- Harley Davidson Motorcycles
- Teachers
- Having Children
- A teenage girl who won’t get the COVID vaccine
- Talking about death with young children, and my favorite
- Cutting your own hair during the pandemic
Who wants to read that pointless stuff? You mean to tell me that’s all that’s happening in two of Illinois’ largest cities? There’s absolutely no reason those fine writers can’t pick up some of that newsroom slack, but no editor cares enough to ask them to do it. Those columnists are essentially feature writers in newspapers that no longer afford a features section.
And I hate to tell Ms. Crosby, but Aurora and Elgin government are already running amok because the Beacon- and Courier-News can’t be bothered with getting the real story. Meanwhile, I can barely cover everything that come my way.
Lastly, “Guardians of Democracy?” Please! Instead of challenging a vast government overreach, the Tribune papers persistently blasted pandemic panic porn at every turn, including running reports that called out local businesses for violating COVID mitigations.
I hate to tell ya, but killing off your own advertisers for the sake of short-term Internet hits is never a good business model.
And now that those chickens have finally come home to roost, instead of changing, innovating, or lighting a new spark like the Chronicle has, Crosby and her cohorts simply want to sit back and have some rich guy throw money at them so they can continue to immerse themselves in the Einsteinian definition of insanity.
I can’t imagine they’re surprised that no millionaire stepped up. Most wealthy folks already understand that the best way to make a small fortune in the newspaper biz is to start with a large one. And now that the Alden purchase is complete, the Tribune Company will be cut to the bone.
But maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Can call me Pollyanna if you want, but I’m thinking that, with that rotting dinosaur carcass of a media company out of the way, like the phoenix rising from the ashes, perhaps something better will take the Tribune’s place.
One can only hope!
