|
Connecticut’s Newspapers Are Dying -- Good November 20, 2008 If you work in Connecticut’s newspaper industry, the news isn’t good. Journal Register Company, publisher of the New Haven Register and dozens of other Connecticut dailies and weeklies, is planning to unload several of its publications, including The Bristol Press and The (New Britain) Herald. If the company can’t find buyers soon, the papers will be shut down. Journal Register’s stock was delisted in April, and the Associated Press says another round of layoffs is coming at the New Haven Register. Earlier this month, The Day, New London’s daily, gave pink slips to nine newsroom and two production employees. In June, the ax fell for a far larger number of workers at The Hartford Courant -- the nation’s “oldest continuously published newspaper” cut 60 newsroom positions. In the months and years to come, others are sure to follow suit. Circulation numbers are plummeting -- according to the Hartford Business Journal, between 2000 and 2006, the state’s dailies “lost more than 106,000 subscribers.” But if you’re a Nutmegger who supports lower taxes and limited government, the death of newspapers in your state is very, very good news. With the exception of Big Labor, the print press is Connecticut leftists’ most valuable asset. State government has been out of control for decades, but you wouldn’t know that from reading the “work” of the capitol press corps. For the most part, reporters on the Hartford beat can’t be bothered to document the massive waste and mismanagement that drive Connecticut’s highest-in-the-nation tax burden. (After all, like the politicians they cover, most love Big Government.) Sure, some buck the trend -- the (Waterbury) Republican-American’s Paul Hughes and the (Manchester) Journal Inquirer’s Don Michak stand out as journalists with enough guts to question Connecticut’s statist quo. Most of their colleagues are content to be stenographers for the power elite. Healthcare “reporting” is particularly poor. You’ll see plenty of sob-sister stories about folks who can’t afford insurance, but search in vain for anything about the role mandates and trial lawyers play in driving up the price of healthcare here. Environmental stories are worse. Nicholas Wade, a former science editor for The New York Times, once admitted to The Washington Post’s media writer Howard Kurtz that the press often serves as a “passive conduit” for the eco-left. That’s certainly the case in Connecticut, where readers are subjected to outrageously one-sided tales of the horrors of “sprawl,” alleged dangers of pesticides, and imminent apocalypse from “global climate change.” Coverage of local fiscal affairs is even more maddening. Every spring, reporters swallow educrat unions’ hysterical predications of impending school-district doom if voters don’t approve budgets. Taxpayer groups, if they’re mentioned at all, are labeled “anti-tax.” Their opponents are, of course, “pro-education.” And when budget proposals are defeated, reductions in proposed expenditure increases are reported as “cuts.” The scales aren’t balanced in commentary sections. Of the state’s 18 dailies, one -- the Republican-American -- has a conservative editorial page. Most op-ed pages contain token right-wing pieces, but they’re almost exclusively penned by nationally syndicated writers whose work never examines public policy in the Nutmeg State, and is available for free online. Indigenous conservative and libertarian voices are blackballed. State-based columnists are overwhelmingly leftist. Despite its status as Connecticut’s most-read daily, the Courant doesn’t have a single conservative writing a stand-alone column. (In 2006, Michele Jacklin, a former Courant capitol reporter turned columnist, went to work for New Haven Mayor John DeStefano’s gubernatorial campaign. Apparently, Jodi Rell wasn’t liberal enough.) Although it’s tempting to give it the credit, let’s face facts: Disgust with left-wing bias isn’t sinking Connecticut’s newspapers. Online classifieds, 24-hour sports on cable, and a U.S.-born population that is fleeing for warmer and economically freer states are more to blame. But regardless of its causes, the death of Connecticut’s print press presents an enormous opportunity for the state’s right. Websites and email are cheap. Online audio and video are becoming cheaper. A relatively small amount of money would go a long way setting up alternative media -- true alternative media -- charged with examining the causes of and solutions to Connecticut’s fiscal and economic woes. As for Connecticut’s ink-stained wretches, some will keep their jobs. Many will make the not-too-big-of-a-jump into flacking for government agencies and liberal pols. (Several already have.) A lot will need to find work in other industries. Connecticut’s reporters and editors abdicated their obligation to provide balanced coverage and commentary long ago. It’s difficult to dredge up sympathy for their rapidly vanishing livelihoods. D. Dowd Muska is a writer, commentator and lecturer. His website is www.dowdmuska.com. # # # # #
|
