The Apocalypse Cometh?

• the embedded courthouse ''reporters'' can't be confused with real investigative journalists like STEPANIE MENCIMER ....... WHO ACTUALLY ELUCIDATED THE ARBITRATION SCHEMES OF HOLLANDER , SPECHLER and MARRA .

• "Carlos stop using Alexa for ranking data, it is skewed and erratic. Just a suggestion." Well in that case, just forget everything I said.

• Carlos stop using Alexa for ranking data, it is skewed and erratic. Just a suggestion.

• Also, journalista, if you really believe that newspapers are "one big lawsuit" away from bringing down the entire blogopshere, then you're naive. Did the lawsuits do anything to curb illegal music downloading? They may have brought Napster but they didn't do anything to stop illegal downloading from other sites that evolved like Limewire. Instead, why don't newspapers use their legal clout to stand up for the First Amendment when they need to? Anon, I agree with you 100 percent that it was corporate greed that brought down the industry. What I am saying is that the time is ripe for journalists to move into the blogosphere and raise its standards - even if you launch your own blog and do it at your own expense for now. It shouldn't be viewed as "us vs them". The real us vs them is the corporate stockholders vs newspaper journalists. The entire industry is evolving and there is no turning back to the good old days, if they ever existed. They did exist but nobody knew they were the good old days until they were the good old days. Perhaps one day in the near future, people will look back on these days and romanticize them as being revolutionary in nature because for the first time in history, everybody has their own printing press. This is Freedom of Speech at its purest. Freedom of the Press at its purest. And while there is a lot of crap out there, with a little dedication, it is possible to emerge from the crap. I just sold my first ad on my blog to a New York lawyer who paid a very fair rate for three months usage. The ad will go up next week. I plan on selling more ads because I discovered I have a niche audience that cares about civil rights violations. I also have other ideas in place to further monetize my blog. I like what Patty was saying on the other thread about launching start-ups where the journalists are in control, not the stockholders. One day she will be proven right. Now it's only a matter of who is going to get the ball rolling.

• "Of course the blogs don't cover city hall as well as the newspapers used to cover it, but neither do the papers." No, most blogs don't cover city hall AT ALL (and you'll find that the large majority, if not all, that do are just partisan mudslingers). I'll be the first to admit papers don't do it like they used to and it's a shame. But at least they do it. It's truly thankless, difficult work that people take for granted. I'm not trying to pick on you Carlos, but it gets tiresome hearing about newspapers' ignorance/arrogance from people claiming blogs are somehow superior. Just look at the "healthy flea living off the dying dog" comment for a perfect example. I'd like to ask "Former Floridian" what will the fleas do when all the dogs are dead? And it's a little disingenuous to say newspapers are somehow saying blogs are beneath them. The Sun Sentinel has had problems with having TOO MANY blogs that they've had to cut back on them. We've had blogs for years now, some of which have gathered a decent following and led to some great reader interaction. The Sentinel, for all its faults, embraced the Internet pretty early on in nearly all its iterations. It hasn't always been cutting edge (some would say it has never been that), but it's changed with the times. Nearly every reporter today blogs in addition to their normal duties, which, you can guess with the current state of things, are pretty heavy these days to begin with. I can't say why the paper balked at the model story, but I can say we have been extremely short-handed lately. Don't take it as a personal slight or some statement on how the Sentinel views bloggers. Believe me, I'm heartbroken to see what's going on in the newspaper industry. If I had my druthers, I'd double the number of reporters and branch out in the types of stories done. But the real problem with newspapers isn't so much a pining for the "good ole days," a pig-headed holding on to the past, right- or left-wing bias or an anti-Internet/blogging philosophy, but a crappy business model that was gutted during the boom years, the same mentality that leads to AIGs and GMs and Bear Stearns - corporate arrogance and destructive greed. Here's to hoping both blogging and newspapers flourish so much in the future that our pillows are stuffed with cash and our bathtubs overflowing with Dom Perignon. But until we kick these corporate bums out, I'll be nursing my microwave noodles-in-a-box.

• journalista, You're missing the point. The question is, why are blogs able to retain readership when newspapers can't? What are they providing that newspapers are not providing? I agree with you that most blogs suck. But they're not the ones with the readership. Take a look at http://thomashawk.com/. He blogs about photography and technology. He is not a journalist but works in the financial sector in San Francisco. But many times he does his own reporting on topics that people find interesting. He has an Alexa ranking of 94,822 , which is close to the Broward Palm Beach New Times ranking of 86,569. http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/thomashawk.com http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/browardpalmbeach.com But he is only one person. The BPB New Times has several staffers who produce content that goes on its website. How was he able to do this? Well for one thing, he is on the forefront of technology advancements, so he knows how to work it to his advantage. Newspapers have never been on the forefront of technology. Most veteran reporters fear technology. The current state of newspapers shouldn't be surprising if you look at how technology has affected circulation over the decades beginning with radio, then TV, then Cable and now the internet. It's not that people don't want the news anymore. It's just that they got bored with newspapers, especially the younger generations. But instead of trying to adapt to the new generations, newspapers sought ways to force the younger generations to adapt to them. But history has shown us that this has always been a lost cause because every generation defines its own standards, not the other way around. Take Leonard Pitts, for example. Excellent writer. But he recently boasted that he will never Twitter because he found it too mundane. But he�s an idiot because he can use Twitter to reach new readers. And that�s the same attitude I�m reading on this thread. A refusal to adapt to the changing times. Unfortunately, these are the people who will be left behind.

• "newspapers should see what bloggers are doing and apply it to themselves"????? I'd guess about 5 percent of the blogging out there is anywhere near serious journalism with good writing and good editing. It may be fun or entertaining, but so is juggling four mustard containers at Burger King. Truth is, we're just one big lawsuit vs. a blogger from bringing down the entire: "I have a computer, so I can write whatever I want to" blogosevre.

• Carlos, You're the healthy flea living off the dying dog. Your Alexa ranking is representative of that.

• Wow, When I talk about communities, I am talking about beats or topic areas of interest or expertise. What blogs have done is develop communities on their sites. They have developed a rapport with their readership. My blog doesn't appeal to everybody but the people who it does appeal do value it very much because they are part of it. Of course the blogs don't cover city hall as well as the newspapers used to cover it, but neither do the papers. Over the last ten years, newspapers became cookie-cutter representations of each other. They lost their individual aspect which made them unique to the communities they serve. This is where blogs differ. Every successful blog caters to their respective community. And I mean this in a virtual sense, not in a geographic sense. Now I'm not trying to argue that blogs are going to overtake newspapers because that is the worst thing that can happen for a number of reasons which I'm sure we'll both agree on. What I am saying is that newspapers should see what bloggers are doing and apply it to themselves because they have the resources, expertise and talent to do it much better. But from what I'm hearing from you is that the blogosphere is beneath you and god forbid you're going to let an amateur teach you how to deliver the news. I used to have this same attitude when I left the Arizona Republic where I was a cop reporter. But then I got arrested for photographing cops against their wishes and the blogosphere reported the hell out of that story while most of the mainstream media chose to ignore it (with the exception of Glenna Milberg who reported on it for Local 10 and Evan Benn who blogged about it). Most editors believed that people would just not be interested in that story. Judging by the international response my story received in the blogosphere, people were very interested. Another example is a recent story I wrote on my blog about a Palm Beach model who was arrested for filming cops against their wishes. http://carlosmiller.com/2009/03/06/south-florida-model-jailed-overnight-for-videotaping-police-officers/ I even contacted the Sun Sentinel to give them a heads up on this story but they chose to ignore it. But that story so far has generated thousands of page views and more than 100 comments on my blog and has sparked various discussions on other websites. But I guess the Sun Sentinel felt it was beneath them to allow a blogger to dictate to them what is newsworthy. The point is, newspapers have lost touch with the readers they serve. When I worked at the Republic, the editors would constantly tell us about "reader surveys" that indicated the readers wanted shorter stories and less city hall coverage and more Hollywood fluff and more feature stories. But when I would talk to the actual readers, they would tell me they wanted the complete opposite. And who do you think is more in tune with their readers; the reporters or the editors? Now you ask for my blog stats. I'll give you my Alexa traffic ranking, which right now stands at 178,000. http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/carlosmiller.com No, it doesn't compare to the Sun-Sentinel or New Times but it blows the Miami SunPost away which has a traffic ranking of 533,000. http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/miamisunpost.com And I'm just one person and they are operating a newspaper in one of the most newsworthy and tourist-driven communities in the world. But they failed at it. So obviously someone is doing something right and someone is doing something wrong.

• A whole lot to respond to. Bob, on the "ripping off" thing. "Content sharing" means the papers have obtained permission to use each others' content. I agree it's not good for journalism, but it's certainly better than newspapers going out of business. But the point is, we have permission to post each others' stories. Many blogs literally steal content from newspapers, often posting whole stories verbatim with no links whatsoever. I'm sure you can see the difference. And Carlos, you're again inflating the importance of blogs. I've seen our paper's numbers. The number of referrers from blogs is minuscule save for perhaps two sites: Drudge and Huffington. The large majority of refers come from... Google searches. Blogs are a drop in the bucket in terms of our online traffic, so don't think you're somehow saving the Sun Sentinel with your links. Let's see your traffic numbers. You claim you're sending us "thousands" of readers, yet your site never shows up in our daily online traffic reports. I'd be surprised if we got more than a few hundred hits from your site (out of tens of thousands we get every day) in the past year. And please post some links to these blogs covering our local communities better than the print papers or as well as the papers used to do. All I see are (mostly, with some exceptions) partisan hackery and refers to newspaper stories. Anyone who believes blogs will be able to fully replace newspaper coverage of local issues -- even in our current weakened state -- is deluded. Look, we're not perfect. Hell I've got plenty of criticism of what's going on, news priorities, etc. But as bad as things are, I've yet to see better. Like I said, what volunteer blogger is gonna fight city hall when they tell you it costs $10,000 to search for a few dozen emails?

• Karen C, Sorry to hear about your loss of livelihood. Good luck with the job search and reinvention. And, by the way, that's a great suggestion for the papers, but I don't think that the powers have hearts, only wallets.

• FYI: The reporter who wrote this story gets to keep her job because some unexpected reporters and editors took buyouts.

• I agree with Hanger On, although I'm not hanging on any longer... I got shown the door in the last lay off. I read this blog and comments every day and frankly I'm tired of all the whining from journalists. There are plenty of us from Circulation, Advertising, Finance, HR and Technology who have been let go and in the most humiliating fashion you could ever imagine. Oh, here's an idea for the Sun-Sentinel, Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post... you should offer free "work wanted" advertising to all those you've laid off. Perhaps you could offer it in the form of a voucher and stick it inside the really neat packet you put together. I could go on but I don't have time... I'm too busy trying to reinvent myself and find another job so I can make my house payment!

• I'm glad that most of you are comfortable cheering on the demise of the newspaper industry. It must make all of you extremely happy to know that there will be hundreds of thousands more out of work shortly. And in an industry where longevity rules the day I'm sure that you are also happy in the fact that most of us do not have a second career to fall back on. Editorial staff does NOT make up the bulk of employees, as much as this may hurt your feelings to find out. The rest of us may soon be up the proverbial creek very soon. Whatever the Herald, Sun Sentinel or Palm Beach Post does to stay in business is all right with me, and hundreds of other people. Perhaps some of you should get off your high horses and start thinking about how you and your families would feel in the same situation. We would all like a more perfect world, but unfortunately, we are not in control of that. Have some sympathy...empathy...please.

• Shared content is the precursor to one regional newspaper -- a merged Herald, Sun-Sentinel and Post (whether that newspaper is the corporate child of all three or not). In fact, I believe in the not too distant future, Florida will be served by three or four regional newspapers.

• You know, CG, that this whole "ripping off content" attitude is a perfect example of why newspapers are failing. If it weren't for the bloggers who are linking to newspaper articles, newspapers would be in even worse shape than they're in now. I can assure you all the articles I link to in my blog posts would never have been read by the thousands of people who read my blog every day had I not linked to them in the first place. But sure, why not forbid blogs from using this material and why not start charging people to access these articles? And let's just finish newspapers off once and for all.

• As one who has been fighting a legal battle for two years and is now appealing a case pro se, I am very surprised. But I'm also happy for you.

• Hi Bob, I'd like to go on the record as being very uncomfortable with content sharing. It's bad for journalists. Ultimately, it's bad for newspapers, because it dillutes the uniqueness of our product. (I suspect that in the long run, news organizations will be populated by a few editors, and reporters will mostly be self-employed independent contractors.) Which brings me to "After the Jump: Helping Journalists in Transition." Thanks to you, Bob, we now have a lawyer, Judy Goodman, P.A., the former editorial director of WPEC TV West Palm Beach, a decade ago. She read your blog and volunteered. At this Sunday's ATJ meeting (Panera Bread, Pompano, Copens and Federal, 11 a.m.) we will be electing a board and discussing the direction and mission of the group. My hope, again, is that we can create a crisis fund and resource for journalists in transition. If you want to get involved and you're from the news business, please come. (Are you surprised we have a lawyer so quickly, Carlos?) Again, thank you for your role, Bob. You've helped a great deal. - Stacey Singer DeLoye

• GC, Wow, talk about taking it personal. I am well aware of the challenges newspapers face these days. My comment was a reflection on Bob's post and not meant to be taken so literally. But the truth is, while newspapers are continuing to lose their relevancy, certain blogs are continuing to prove their relevancy. Obviously, one is not going to cancel the other out. And I am by no means happy to see the demise of the newspaper industry but I am not surprised either. I saw this coming years ago during the major conglomeration of the newspaper industry which essentially put editorial decisions in the hands of stock holders. You might take that statement literally too and tell me that I'm wrong, but who do you think forced all the foreign bureaus to shut down? Or who do you think shifted the news coverage from relevant hard news pieces to fluffy Britney Spears pieces? Or who do you think was responsible for dumbing down the news to the point where newspaper articles had no more substance than local TV coverage, only you didn't get to read it until the following day? It wasn't the editors. Maybe you're right about blogs being "small potatoes" but they are doing what newspapers did during the Golden Age. They are covering their respective communities, whether it is geographical or in my case, topical. And that is something newspapers haven't done since the conglomerations.

• The press release, I'm sure, came after the JAABlog post. I'm a purist on the crediting thing, but I'll concede this wasn't an egregious violation. Just more of the same. As for blogs "ripping off" newspaper content, well, you might want to look within. It's arrogance like that that is hastening the death of newspapers. The Sun-Sentinel is borrowing content left and right. It's not only running stories from the Herald and Post but aggregating quite a lot of content as well. Remember that Natasha Richardson "rumor mill" (http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2009/03/satan_andor_tmz_takes_reins_at.php)? I think the ones (newspapers, blogs, and Internet publications included) who succeed will have a decent mix, with the meat and potatoes consisting of original content (like the blog you're reading).

• What kind of editors and publishers would enter into any kind of agreement to share content with the competition? Total sell-out all the way around. Tough times always bring out the whores.

• It'll be tough to compete against a blogger with a total of... let's see... two originally reported posts for the entire month of March so far. Bloggers need to quit flattering themselves. Regional newspapers aren't trying to compete with them. Hell, your blog (like just the large majority of blogs) is just mostly a collection of comments on stories written by... regional newspapers. Regional newspapers are competing against an unsustainable business model brought on by the Internet, not bloggers essentially ripping off their content. We're competing for survival. Blogs are small potatoes compared to the wars we're fighting these days.

• It used to be where the newspapers competed against each other. Now it's regional newspapers joining forces and competing against the blogs. As a former newspaper reporter turned blogger, I say bring it on.

• You ought to distinguish what platform you are referring to when you say something like "lede story." It's on the Web site. The Web site also lists all of its "partners" and their top stories at the right of the breaking news section. Actually, it's kind of helpful in seeing all the news. But no doubt it delutes competitive spirit.

• The Broward Sheriff's Office put out a freaking press release on the judge thing. Hardly stealing. For God's sake, Bob, give it a fucking rest.

• You are right, sharing stories was a bad idea. I had a bad feeling about this concept when it was announced and your example has materialized it.

• I know the Pulp has been focusing in on the demise of journalism, not only across the South Florida, but also around the country. And while it truly saddens me to see talented, hard working folks summarily dismissed, it really is just a mirror of what is happening around the country in other professions as well.Corporate America squeezing the last dime out, going for the quick fix, the tawdry, the sensational ,over the quality infused product. The Catholic Church prefers quantity of numbers of young seminarians over the quality of the candidate. And gosh jolly gee we have a Pedophile epidemic- and a bankrupt Archdiocese of Miami.Unfortunately nowadays McLuhan was wrong, "The medium is NOT the message". Rather "The media is the message".

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