Warren Buffett says papers “are toast”

It's what you write when "Embezzlement" doesn't fit your hed spec.

 

I worked for a family-owned newspaper out in the Midwest in the early 90s, since sold. I don't know if this is the pattern elsewhere but said family also owned a ton of real estate in and around this smallish city.

The paper was originally an investment in the town, creating a sense of community, which in turn up bumped the value of their holdings. The current generation then took a hands-off approach to editorial but I was told that great-grandpa also used it as a political cudgel in his day. So, along with the fact that the kids wanted to cash out, you had two more reasons for owning a paper that were no longer valid.

 

The attempt to produce a balanced editorial stance was a product of monopoly journalism. As the industry moved to a model where there was only one publisher (perhaps printing both a morning and afternoon paper) there was a tendency to try to produce a balanced product. In the late 1800's papers would try to reach either the Republican or Democratic niche. Papers that tried to produce a balanced content often found out they appealed to wither market.

The business genius of Fox News is that Murdoch that in a 100 channel world there is a hell of a lot of money to be made by hitting a niche, in this case elderly conservative males.

 

Oh, I was talking about more on a local level. Favorable stores about Councilman Smith - who wasn't averse to helping out the publisher's other local interests, Crickets about candidate Jones, who was. Etc. etc.