GREG.....In order for a "newspaper Endorsement" to mean something, you have to be something! People today see the news print as mostly just the propaganda arm of some mega corporation. (except the New York Times) They no longer have the power they once enjoyed mostly because they no longer are independent thinking. People still read the news print, via internet, ( I bet that there are more readers today, 2008 than in 1990, it's just that they ain't sellin more at the news stand ) So I disagree with your little graph and your assumption. It has more to do with what is printed than how many copies are bought!
 

Yes and no. I would certainly attribute it more to the notion that "news hounds" have more access to more diverse news sources via the web, BUT your typical Joe gets his brain filled by CNN and FOX and Rush etc..... which is the biggest difference between then and now.

I don't disagree with your anti-corporate-news views. While I consider our own tiny local paper, The Transcript, to be part and parcel of the community itself, I can't overlook the fact that the meager profits it brings in go to feed a behemoth media group. Also it bothers me greatly that major management and publishing decisions are no longer made here in NA. They seem to be made by some guy with an MBA and a bonus structure that depends on wringing out every last penny from the system.

The times, they are a changin'. (No pun intended)
 

Greg..... That's the shame of it all. Little local control for a local newspaper. It just seems to me that there is a lot more local news generated than ends up in the paper. We are a small backwater town stuck in the armpit of the Berkshires and we love nothing more than to read about the dirt that goes on in our own backyard. The Transcript seems to be one sided lately and we don't get the feeling of Independence it once had. They usta lambaste both sides of the isle and give the pro/con of most controversial news items. But today they take sides, which is ok....as long as it is my side. :~) Seems to me that having a preference is ok as long as both sides of the issue are treated equally.
I would like to see more reporting of what goes on in Boston that effects us bear footed bumpkins here in the Town. More specifically ...just what our elected servants are doing, if anything, to help out the Town. What bills are they backing, not backing, submitting, writing, how they voted on bills,...you get my drift. Hell, the Transcript could do away with the National News section all together, it usually is just days old rehashed "I knew that already" news anyway, and replace it with more in-depth ...."The Boston Beat" section.
 

Jack is right, but it isn't just limited to the Transcript. The sole-surviving daily paper here in Cincinnati, the corporate-massaging Cincinnati Enquirer, has very little coverage of the Statehouse in Columbus.

Everyone seems to forget how important state governments really are.

WF
(who had a different adjective than "corporate-massaging" in the first draft)