I think it is fair to say that the staff at Intelligent Discontent spends a fair amount of time reading newspapers online. I would also admit that I don’t get a print subscription to any paper, including the local paper. I suppose one of the reasons why I don’t subscribe to IR is that I spend more time annoyed with their coverage, or lack thereof, of local issues and their lack of willingness to engage in investigative journalism or challenge the status quo at all. (For amusement, I suggest their Friday thumbs up/down editorial, which usually boils down to obviously good things getting thumbs up, and obviously bad things getting thumbs down… “Puppies? Sunshine? Thumbs up! Poverty? Bird flu? Thumbs down!”)
There is a very interesting article on Slashdot concerning the Internet and its effects on newspaper readership. The article makes several points about declining readership and details steps newspapers could take right now to evolve their Internet presence to increase revenues.
I would make a couple of comments about newspapers in light of the Slashdot article.
First, I think the Slashdot article is very correct about interactivity. For those that haven’t seen Slashdot, it is a popular news site covering technology issues. Readers send in blips about articles they have found and users comment on the articles. Certainly, the discussion isn’t always useful, meaningful or even civil, but discussion happens and the point of the site is to encourage interaction. Interestingly, the IR allows users to “comment” on articles, however, the comments must be approved. I have never seen an approved comment on their site, and every comment I have tried to post has either been ignored or denied, I am not sure which.
Second, I think it is time that the Internet finds a way to make pay-for content meaningful. I would pay to get the IR content every day under a few conditions. First, I believe in “micropayments.” Charge me 10 dollars a year for content they you are giving away to me for free now and assuming there was value to the content, I’d probably pay for it. I was sad when the New York Times started charging for much of their content and would have agreed to pay some to get access back but I simply cannot justify paying $50 or $75 or $100 dollars a year for that. Second, I think you would need to give me all of a paper’s content. Papers across the state of Montana avoid placing all of their content online because they perceive that if they do, readership will suffer. For example, the Great Falls Tribune doesn’t put letters to the editor online, something I read for both information and amusement. Will I purchase a Tribune to get the letters? Nope. Frankly, I’m not sure I know someone who would.
I there there is quite a discussion to have concerning the future of media in light of the Internet. The larger point the Slashdot article makes is that the newspaper business is trying to apply old models of the business to the new world. This is a recipe for failure.
There is an interesting article from the BBC detailing allegations from Col. Lawrence Wilkerson that Dick Cheney pushed the abuse of terror suspects as part of the ongoing War on Terror. A more interesting comment from Col. Wilkerson is that Cheney’s actions might be both a domestic crime and an international crime. Although there has been plenty of claims that the Bush administration should be held accountable for their actions in Iraq, the accusations of prisoner abuse and the “secret” prisons provides an interesting new angle. It is also worthy to note that Col. Lawrence, until this past Spring, served in the Bush State Department.
Gary Alan Scott, an expatriate and ‘ex-patriot’ living in Belgium wrote an interesting piece on Monday, arguing that he was no longer proud to be an American for 10 reasons He writes:
I love my country’s founding values, its natural beauty and so, so many people in it, but that I can no longer say that I am proud to be an American.
I’ve never been one for excessive patriotism, or flag-waving, but it is an interesting question. Are there reasons to be proud to be an American? Are we doing things that should be the source of pride? Drop me a note at dpogreba@bigskydebate.com or comment here, if you have any thoughts.
In light of the Administration’s total silence about allegations of a network of secret prisons in Europe, a report in LeMonde has a credible source discussing a detention center run by the US in Kosovo, after 9/11.
The commisioner of the Council of Europe Human Rights Commission, Alvaro Gil-Robles personally visited the site. He described it as:
“small wooden huts ringed by tall barbed wire”, each housing “between 15 and 20 prisoners … wearing orange boiler suits like the ones worn by Guantánamo inmates”.
While the existence of this prison does not prove that the other allegations (HRW, Washington Post) are true, it certainly makes them more credible. Given the administration’s typical stonewalling and disregard for international law, should we even be surprised anymore?
I stumbled across this ad while doing a little debate research this evening.
Nothing terribly profound here, but it never ceases to amaze me how conservative Christian groups have been able to make themselves martyrs in the most religious, most Christian nation in the developed world. You guys are winning; relax.
No one has outlawed prayer in any school, any mall, any street, and no one will.
It looks like Connie might be in some hot water. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the Justice Department is seriously investigating the actions of a number of senior Republicans, including Tom Delay and Conrad Burns.
The interesting part of the story might be the low bar the Justice Department seems to have set in terms of bribery charges. Michael Scanlon, the already indicted business partner of Abramoff (and a likely source of quite a bit of incriminating material), pled guilty to bribery for donations totalling only $14,000:
Mr. Scanlon’s guilty plea suggests that prosecutors may be setting a low threshold for bringing bribery charges. Mr. Scanlon pleaded guilty to bribing Mr. Ney by contributing just $4,000 to his campaign account in 2000 and an additional $10,000 to a separate Republican campaign fund. Prosecutors told Mr. Scanlon that if he made the contributions in exchange for some action or public statement by Mr. Ney, the donations amounted to bribery. That argument put pressure on Mr. Scanlon to plead guilty.
Presumably, the Senator for the Saginaw Chippewas has a convenient explanation for the $150,000 he has received from Abramoff and his clients in the past four years.
This is big news, both in terms of our statewide race for the Senate and for the Republican party nationwide. Wading in the filth of Tom Delay’s backyward might have been worth a few bucks, but the stench isn’t going to go away. Let’s hope the media and Democrats force this issue to the forefront.
