In the last week there has been a quiet mini-revolution in the world of NYC newspapers.
First, The New York Sun went out of business on September 30. Never read the Sun? Never heard of it? That would make you like most New Yorkers, and that's why it's gone. It was established seven years ago as a forum for neo-conservative political thought and to challenge the "liberal media" in this town. Well, it looks like the big bad liberal media won this round, don't it? And like its other discredited patrons -- the Bush Administration and the Republican Party -- the Sun has set on neo-conservative thought. But I'm not entirely happy that the Sun is gone. It has some really great arts coverage and that will be a loss to the cultural life of this city. And it's a shame that this town that use to have so many newspapers circulating around it now has one fewer.
Second, and more importantly, the Metro section of The New York Times is no more. That's right, the newspaper of New York City no longer has a section devoted exclusively to New York City. Obviously if you read the Times on the web then you won't notice this. In fact, it's because most people read the Times on the web that the Metro section is no more. All local news is now tucked at the back of the main news section, right after international and national news. I guess it now puts us New Yorkers properly in its place -- ba dum bum.
So life goes on. Most New Yorkers won't notice or care. But these are changes for the worse in my opinion. The media landscape is changing faster than we can imagine. Sad, but not unpredictable.
First, The New York Sun went out of business on September 30. Never read the Sun? Never heard of it? That would make you like most New Yorkers, and that's why it's gone. It was established seven years ago as a forum for neo-conservative political thought and to challenge the "liberal media" in this town. Well, it looks like the big bad liberal media won this round, don't it? And like its other discredited patrons -- the Bush Administration and the Republican Party -- the Sun has set on neo-conservative thought. But I'm not entirely happy that the Sun is gone. It has some really great arts coverage and that will be a loss to the cultural life of this city. And it's a shame that this town that use to have so many newspapers circulating around it now has one fewer.
Second, and more importantly, the Metro section of The New York Times is no more. That's right, the newspaper of New York City no longer has a section devoted exclusively to New York City. Obviously if you read the Times on the web then you won't notice this. In fact, it's because most people read the Times on the web that the Metro section is no more. All local news is now tucked at the back of the main news section, right after international and national news. I guess it now puts us New Yorkers properly in its place -- ba dum bum.
So life goes on. Most New Yorkers won't notice or care. But these are changes for the worse in my opinion. The media landscape is changing faster than we can imagine. Sad, but not unpredictable.
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