Death of newspapers is well on its way
I knew Ben Affleck was a moron. Movies like “Gigli,” “Paycheck” and “Jersey Girl” proved it. But recently I have gotten the idea that Affleck is brighter than he lets on.
Affleck has gone relatively unnoticed over the past few years after his previously listed blockbuster disasters, but he has resurfaced in the recent drama “State of Play.”
The movie features Affleck as Congressman Stephen Collins, who is the chair of a committee researching the government’s contracts with PointCorp, a private military corporation. When his lead researcher (and mistress) is found dead on subway tracks, this reveals a web of deception and corruption uncovered by Washington Globe reporter Cal McAffrey – played by Russell Crowe – and blogger Della Frye – played by Rachel McAdams.
And given the movie’s success, Affleck has not only reappeared in Hollywood, but he’s also out doing interviews once again. And he’s revealing the underlying message from the movie.
Although never explicitly said, it’s obvious the movie has a theme of the death of newspapers. Through the movie, McAffrey seems to show animosity toward Frye, which seems to resemble the displeasure shown between old-school reporters and the new-school bloggers.
Helen Mirren – who plays the Globe’s editor, Cameron Lynne – delivers a line that drives home the emphasis the scandalous story contains. “A story this big, people should probably have newsprint on their hands.”
It seems hard to believe newspapers are going to die. Just think, some day you may not be holding this piece of paper in your hand reading these words I have written. Some day, you will read your news and opinions entirely online.
Which brings me back to Ben Affleck. He went on Rachel Maddow’s show on April 16 to discuss the decline and eventual death of newspapers. Despite his appearances, and to my utter disbelief, Affleck is actually a really bright person.
Affleck actually views this movie as being the last period piece of its time set in a newsroom. He has come out and said the thing that everyone seems to be in agreement on – newspapers are dying.
This is obvious. Look across the nations. Papers are dying every day. Papers such as The Rocky Mountain News, The Baltimore Examiner, The Cincinnati Post and the South Idaho Press have all closed their doors for good. There are also newspapers deemed “works in progress,” which have gotten rid of the print edition and gone entirely online. These include The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Ann Arbor News and The Christian Science Monitor.
Reporters from news outlets such as Slate or techdirt.com have reminded everyone that newspapers faced death once before.
In 1918, many other daily newspapers were dying off in much the same way they are dying off now. According to Oswald Garrison Villard, who wrote for Atlantic Monthly, the main cause of death was “the enormously increased costs of maintaining great dailies” and limited advertising.
That’s exactly what we are facing today, but with one glaring exception: The Internet. With free news sources and free places for ads such as Craigslist, there seems to be less of a need for newspapers than ever before.
Newspapers are not going to simply die for a while and resurface. This isn’t Abe Vigoda.
And Affleck has shown he knows what he’s talking about with newspapers. He said, “Newspapers haven’t helped themselves over the past 10 years.” He then went on to talk about how newspapers couldn’t adjust to the changing environment and economic conditions.
Affleck also said, “New media is … probably just pushing out newspapers.” It could be easy for reporters who are used to the newspaper – which stood apart from other forms of media – to struggle to keep up with the changing media forms.
This point was also shown in the movie. McAffrey has a dislike for Frye and her blogging, but as the movie progresses, we find Frye is a very talented journalist, and the two become good friends.
But Affleck agrees journalists are doing good work. He referenced the front page of The New York Times from that day, which ran a story about the legality of the NSA’s wire taps. But just because journalists do good work, that isn’t enough to save their jobs.
Sam Zell, owner of the Tribune Company, has his own thoughts about newspapers – two of which he owns (the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times): “The newspaper model in its current form does not work.”
No one is making money anymore. No one seems to know how to make money on the Internet. No one seems to have any ideas, either. You would think with so many geniuses in the world, saving newspapers would be a piece of cake. But these next few years are sure to mark uncharted territory for journalists and newspapers alike.
And I’m not looking forward to it.
