I’m reading 2 newspapers this Sunday.  Many years ago I would wake early on Sunday and go to the store and buy 3 papers.  Starting with my local, The New York Times and a third paper for random editorial viewing.  When the cost reached ten dollars and the government no longer allowed me deductions for work related publications I scaled back.  The arrival of news via internet also kept my fingers free from ink marks.  Sunday is still a day for gripping old fashioned newspapers.  This morning I bought two on the way to breakfast.  A friend recommended a restaurant on the bay in Oak Orchard.  You can get a table by the water and read by brilliant sunshine.  The New York papers are among those I now read online.  That city’s leading paper will set you back 5 dollars on Sunday.  If you can ignore the editorial bias it’s a good read for much of the week but around the house it just gets scattered.

The Washington Post isn’t, from ratings of papers I’ve seen, in quite the same league with The New York Times but the Post has good comics and Tiff likes the Post magazine, which isn’t cluttered with Rolex advertising like its New York counterpart.  The Sunday Post also carries a section called Outlook.  It’s worth the price of the paper.  My other usual Sunday read is The Washington Times.  It’s simply the only daily devoted to right-of-center thought in America.  The Op-Ed section is worth much more than the 1 dollar Sunday cost. 

The Baltimore, Wilmington and Salisbury papers were once decent reads, I guess, but none are now worth shelling out a buck or two.  As a member of the vast right-wing conspiracy I’ve spent much time gloating about the sinking liberal ships, however.  Now The Washington Times is asking me to spend a little more than 3 dollars per month on an internet subscription.  The word “paper” will become as archaic as the word “press”.  The printing and distribution of newspapers is expensive.  Few people any longer read them on a daily basis.  Online editions cut those costs but also cut staff and coverage. 

What’s the big deal you ask?  First let me offer that anything I write won’t save newspapers and nothing thousands of others are writing will save papers.  Some environmentalists will even argue the savings in paper and ink will be good for the planet.  They fail to ponder the costs of generating the electricity for televisions, radios, DVD players and computers.  These household devices can offer you a great deal of information but the power demands in this country have pretty much trebled since the advent of desktop computing.  We answer the demand by burning oil and coal.

I’m not a flaming environmentalist.  Even if I was it would just spew smoke from my remains into the air.  My concerns are of a different nature.  The Washington Times carries a story today about illegal gun sales to Mexican drug gangs.  The guns are being shipped south of the border from as far away as the state of Washington.  For those of you on the left it’s the Washington with Congressional representation.  The Washington Post carries a front page story detailing a United States government effort to beef up border security just north of Mexico.  Two things I’m gleaning from what I’m reading.  The massive sums of illegal drug money corrupting Central and South America is now corrupting some of my countrymen.  We may also be looking at a bloody war along our border with a narco-terrorist state.  No matter the differences in editorial slant of these papers I can connect the dots. 

A writer for the Nation has a guest piece today in the Outlook section of the Post.  He explains he voted for President Obama but now fears our country is becoming what he labels a “corporate state” with the worst attributes of socialism and capitalism combined.  Corporate states plan economies and favor some industries over others.  The closest historical parallel from my reading is called National Socialism. 

Who’ll provide the information for the citizens of this country about wars with neighbors and corporate favoritism?  For 22 of the last 23 years I’ve worked in radio and television.  For 17 years I worked in news.  I’m a proponent of the immediacy broadcasters can provide in a crisis but also remember a statistic.  Some 25 years ago a fellow measured all of the words spoken in the CBS Evening News and discovered they comprised just 22 column inches when turned into newsprint.  Not much depth and not much reporting about real news. 

There are from my perspective just two outcomes.  One would be very positive.  A new business model we old timers can’t fathom replaces the old one and brings both depth and immediacy.  The web may yet be the answer.  Option two is an even more ill-informed public.  No matter what your view of last week’s AIG story I predict one year from now there may be no one left to report any similar news.  God save us all. 

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