Newspapers in Decline - Continuing Story

The Chicago Suntimes ran a rather disturbing article on the decline of newspapers, 'As Newspapers Close Across The U.S., Study Finds Illinois Is Hard Hit' (link).

Some of the disturbing information:

Since 2005, more than one-third of U.S. newspapers — 3,300 outlets — have closed. In that time, Illinois has lost 36% of its newspapers, or 232 outlets, and Cook County has lost 40% of its newspapers.

Illinois has also lost 54% of its newspaper workers, or about 4,600 positions, in the decade ending in 2023.

There are a few positive developments including a "net increase of 81 stand-alone digital news sites" -- still it's clear: one of our most valuable resources is running into serious difficulties.

Interesting Front Page from today's Chicago Sun-Times

 
Interesting front page from today's Chicago Sun-Times. (And yes, I subscribe to their 'digital' edition.) More info here...

[Original Link (no work)]

Staats-Zeitung, My Uncles and Abraham Lincoln

I saw Sidney Blumenthal discuss his book "The Political Life of Lincoln, 1849-1856" at Printers Row Lit Fest over the weekend.  He talked about the critical role local newspapers played in the anti-slavery movement -- some of which Lincoln wrote articles for.  One newspaper in particular was the Chicago-based "Staats-Zeitung".  This rang a bell for me as I recalled my uncles Julius and Ernest being involved with the same paper in the late 20s early 30s. Below is a copy of the newspaper's listing from the "Illinois Newspaper Directory & History" (1934).

'Mobile First' Doesn't Mean 'Mobile Everything'

I was reading about a presentation by Ethan Marcotte on re-designing the web-site for the Boston Globe so of course I headed over to have a look.

Washington Post Issues Correction on Fairfax County Library Story

The original story that appeared in the Washington Post about Fairfax County's weeding of classics from its collection raised a nationwide "firestorm of outrage".

Now WaPo Ombudsman, Deborah Howell, reports that the weeding wasn't perhaps as sweeping as orginally suggested:

The story said that "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" are among the titles that hadn't been checked out in two years and that could be eliminated. Those books have been checked out; it would have been better to say that some copies of those books may not have been checked out in two years at some branches and could be weeded out. Kirkpatrick and Clay say there was never any intention of weeding out all copies.

Complete article here...