Why Newspapers Are Dying

We're in the closing hours of the longest and most contested presidential race in our history and, by accident or design this year's October Surprise is a financial meltdown of the world economy.

But American newspapers are in their own meltdown. Weekday readership is down according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations by an average of almost 5% since April; Sunday readership off more so than weekdays.

The Atlanta Urinal Constipation suffered a 14% drop off (Henry W. Grady is spinning in his grave!). The New York Times, the mouth organ of the Democratic Party is still losing readers everyday. The Los Angeles Times recently announced more layoffs as they seem to do every month. The Macon Telegraph, the rag that springs forth from the butthole of Georgia is biased in their reporting and there's talk of layoffs.

A level of ethics is missing from all of these papers. They have a hidden agenda and misleading stories. I've accepted some time ago that this concept is beyond the abilities of these newspapers' staff. The Telegraph and The Constipation have always been biased in its presentations and you can bet that if they were not the only game in town, many subscriptions would be with someone else.

Many of the drive-by media elites have responded to these hard times by raising their rates - further eroding their circulation - just like their fellow liberal travelers in government, who insist on raising taxes despite the severe consequences.

Predictably, the drive-bys continue to misdiagnose their problem. Last week, their industry experts are blaming shrinking news pages, the economic down-turn -- everything but the real reason for their decline (which is simple to understand): their customers just don't trust them anymore. They know they are not getting objective news. All people have to do is turn on the new media, listen to the radio, to find out the news these papers refuse to print for purely ideological reasons.

So I'm sorry drive-bys, no tears for your continued fall from grace; you're digging your own graves and frankly there are many of us who are happy to throw the dirt on you.

Mark Twain is quoted as saying, "If you do not read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed." I believe he was an early subscriber to these papers.

Walter