Webupon

I’m sure there is a certain fulfillment in buying The New York Times every week to let it lie in the driveway for half the day, and then to barely throw it away after a quick skim. Perhaps with all the fuss of newspapers dieing, the American tradition of siding with the underdog comes to mind.

Americans who read the newspaper as they used to are a rare breed, still existing in the days of waking sunday morning for breakfast and church. Socially involved individuals will most likely always read the newspaper for the local colour, but more and more local newspapers are declining; How many socially involved individuals are in a community?

The popular media blames the newspaper’s death on blogging. I blame it on the declining values of us all. Times have changed and computers are simply easier. From diesel to hydrogen fuel, the times change to favor something more efficient and blogs are just that; It’s not like editorials need to come from a particularly qualified source: all of our opinions are equally without merit.

But regarding news, it’s a different story. News blogs are obviously not near as high in quality, and rare in grassroots’ popularity. Once a story gets to a certain importance, the monumental network news giants can take care of the reporting, leaving bloggers to piddle with the dregs. We can see from Paddy Chayefsky’s masterpeice Network that the News buisness has always been struggling, even in the 70s. Blogs are a new leech, but in the shadow of declining social concern, they aren’t the real problem. If you want to fix any ‘problem,’ just buy a newspaper and calm your nerves with the funnys.