Are we talking about the Amarillo Globe-News?

[catsmeow]

Based on this story and the comments that follow it www.charlotteobserver.com/100/story/168836.html?pageNum=1, you'd think we were talking about the AGN.

Newspapers everywhere ... hurting.

And I agree with whichever commenter said the industry is its own biggest enemy. It's killing itself.

[west-texan]

Les Simpson certainly takes a bottom line approach...

By never publishing anything controversial...or anything that would offend a current or potential AGN advertising customer.

Amarillo loses out bigtime...when Simpson covers up local news....

And refuses to question or investigate anything the leaders of Amarillo or the AEDC do.

The Globe News is more about just trying to sell local advertising...than reporting real local news.

Bottom-line pseudo-journalism sucks.

[catsmeow]

I think it's bigger than Les, though. The industry, as a whole, wants a much larger profit margin than most industries. I don't know if it has relented any in recent years, but basically, I think all NP owners are riding the print train until other forms of media kill it completely.

I would have hoped, however, that instead of buckling under pressure, newspapers would have adjusted profit-margin-wise and sought to make their products better, rather than worse with less.

It never had to be a dying industry. That's just my opinion, though. There are still plenty of people out there who enjoy the tradition of waking up to a newspaper and having something to hold in one's hands. Books aren't dying. People still read books!

But as far as sorry content, the GN isn't even fixing that issue on the Internet.

[west-texan]

The Amarillo.com website redesign was...and still is...a complete and barely usable joke.

Even smaller newspapers than the Globe News...have far better websites.

I wonder if Simpson has ever really tried to use the AGN website...or even seen a real newspaper website.

Also...every other Morris Communications newspaper...has a website that blows Amarillo.com away.

Hell...the Globe News can't even center it's webpage in the browser window...which is a 1 minute XHTML fix.

Notice how this board centers itself in the browser window?

That's how a website is supposed to work.

Want to see a far better newspaper website...go to www.lubbockonline.com ;D

That's another Morris Communications newspaper website...that I bet Les Simpson has never seen.

[youasked4it]

Too many papers are reporting from the police scanners. No story......... no info.... they print it anyway.
Houston for example is a crime ridden war zone.... when printing descriptions of suspects they won't print the race until everyone commenting tells them how lame and politically correct they are... OR...complains that other news outlets are giving the race and chron is a joke...
How can you be on the lookout for a suspect if you don't know what color the fella is?
Political stuff? I don't even bother reading it anymore. They can't even cut and paste an AP article without screwing it up.
LMAO! Dear Abby? They only print part of her article many days...which is fine.... because the person giving advice since Abby died sucks at giving advice!

You would think the content of the Houston Chronicle would be much better than AGN.... they are the same.....if not worse. Even their comments program sucks.... plus all the psychos in the 4th largest city in the country get a little hard to handle...y'all thought the TA trolls were bad? LMAO! And the chron tolerates trolls but bans people in a heartbeat for being off topic or not politically correct. It makes the comment section chaos and not worth reading or sharing....and not worth my time. Many people have taken that view. But there is all kinds of nifty advertising...screw the readers.

In the print version...there are so many ads that it takes 5 trees to print one copy...WTF? And I am supposed to recycle that? I'm not sure it will even fit in my car after I dissected it trying to get to the news! I wouldn't even use it for the bottom of a birdcage.... no sense in being mean to the bird.

Bottom-line pseudo-journalism sucks.

Absolutely!

But with the Chrons Sunday edition you do get more bang for your buck than with AGN................. ;D when you use it for packing.

[catsmeow]

Good point about the police scanners. My husband and I joked for a while that the AGN had become nothing but a crime report, thanks to the scanners. (And that is because, to me, of all the newbies to the community. It takes a long time to develop sources who trust you and will tell you stuff, or call you up to tell you of a story. With all the out of towners the AGN has hired in recent years -- and gotten rid of the old-timers from the community -- losing good content was bound to happen).

[youasked4it]

Maybe out of towners in Amarillo....

But from what I am seeing in several papers across the country....is the new generation has no guts...and they are spoiled and lazy.

Why go out and write a story when you can get the info off of google.

LOL... one of the AGN reporters wrote that the ocean was 10 1/2 hours from the panhandle....

I was thinking WTF? I have a HEAVY foot and can't make it in that amount of time. And could drive it with my eyes closed.

She got it off of mapquest. Surely there was someone in the office even that could have told her that you can't make Galveston in 10 1/2 hours. I know that is trivial....but I consider it lazy journalism.

[sj]

Newspapers are going to have to adjust to the WWW age. I think the Dallas Morning News has a handle on it. The rag part is old news.....the electronic WWW is more current and up there with the electronic media of radio and TV. The printed news will have to convert to electronic and be immediate.

[west-texan]

Hell...I encountered one of the newer AGN sports guys on a college football board...

And wasn't even aware that WTAMU had competed 2 levels higher...at the same level as Texas Tech...up through the early 1980's.

He really had no knowledge of the history of WT athletics...and he is their main person covering WTAMU sports.