myth

I have officially had a big boy job for over ten months with USA TODAY. In those ten months, I have encountered a recurring myth time and time again. The myth being that newspapers are a dying industry. I am so tired of people forecasting doomsday. The newspaper isn't dying, it is just adapting. When the radio was invented, the experts predicted it would end record sales. They were wrong. When the television was invented the experts predicted that nobody would ever want to sit and listen to the radio. They were wrong. When the VCR was invented, the experts proclaimed that was the end of movies. Why would anybody pay money and drive to a theater when they could watch a movie at the convenience of their own home? Correct me if I am wrong but 300 just broke the all time for attendance for opening day weekend in March. I could go on and on but I think you get my point. To be successful, newspapers must adopt and I think they are. Newspapers are constantly adopting. Remember if this was 1907 instead of 2007, to buy your newspaper you would go to the street and buy a paper from a boy selling them on the corner. Here are a few ways the industry will still thrive. One, newspapers will no longer be the place for breaking news. Clearly the internet will dominate with breaking news. Newspapers will follow after magazines and be 90% column oriented. Two, newspapers must not ignore the presence of the internet but embrace it. USATODAY.com has created a sophisticated blogosphere where people all over the world contribute. Don't get me wrong, there are fewer newspapers sold then there were ten years ago but it is by a lot less then people think (including Wall Street). USATODAY is still the number 1 selling newspaper in terms of sales with almost 2.5 million copies sold a day. In comparison, the NY Times is around 1.3 million and Star Tribune is about 400,000 per day. Normally, I would have thicker skin then to let naysayers print crap about the industry dying. But what worries me is the best and the brightest youth in the nation will decide to go into other industries. Brilliant future journalists will decide that they should go into pharmacy or biology because journalism is a dying industry. The brilliant marketing and business minds graduating from Harvard and Stanford will read Forbes magazine telling them the newspaper industry is dying and go into different industries. If this is the case, and the best minds go to other fields, then circulation will really decrease because frankly the product won't be as good. This is what worries me the most. Bottom line, the newspaper industry will be just fine. If radio has survived, if movies have survived, then the paper will survive.

The neediest among us

According to today's Star Tribune, there are 62% more Minnesotans living in serious poverty then there were in 2000. That is a greater spike then any other state. To be considered in serious poverty, you are an adult that makes under $10,000 a year. Minnesota, through the result of slashing funding for shelters that house battered women, and cuts to the environment, have a 2007-2008 budget with a 2.1 billion dollar budget. To me some serious thought must go into helping those among us who are the most neediest. Whether it be the addition of more collegiate scholarships to needy children who wish to get an education, more affordable health care, more of a tax refund for the neediest, et cetera. Something must be done to stop the bleeding. In a time when the stock market is at a record high and there are more billionaires (922) in the world then ever before, those with, must be more generous to those without. I have several libertarian aspects to my political thought process but not when it comes to taking care of our less fortunate brothers and sisters. I am pleading with Governor Pawlenty to stop campaigning with Senator McCain and start focusing on his constituents who need him the most.

Interesting...

I'm not sure how many of you read USA TODAY, but today's cover article on the presidential hopefuls is very interesting. USA TODAY and Gallup have been polling Americans in the past few weeks to gage the comfort level on a particular candidate. Here are some interesting statistics:

90% of liberals would be comfortable voting for a female candidate.
60% of conservatives would be comfortable voting for a female candidate.

(This is decent for Hillary)

92% of liberals would be comfortable voting for a black candidate.
77% of conservatives would be comfortable voting for a black candidate.

(This is better for Barack Obama)

49% of conservatives would be comfortable voting for a candidate who is 72 years old
33% of liberals would be comfortable voting for a candidate who is 72 years old

(This does not look good for John McCain who will be 72 in 2008)

63% of liberals would be comfortable voting for a candidate who has been married three times.
45% of conservatives would be comfortable voting for a candidate who has been married three times.

(This looks troubling for Rudy Guilani)

About 63% of Americans would be comfortable voting for a candidate who is a Mormom

(This is troubling for Mitt Romney)

All in all, it seems right now that Americans are more comfortable voting for a one of the democrat candidates then the republicant's candidates. What a fascinating time it would be if the first ever black was electected, the first female president, the first Italian-American president, the first Mormon president, or the oldest president was elected. It's a good time to be a political wonk right now.

Side tangent, when did it go back to being acceptable to call African-Americans, black?

The most dangerous woman in America

Yesterday, Ann Coulter, reminded me why she is number one most dangerous woman in the world. Coulter, educated at Cornell and University of Michigan, has published five best selling books and is a nationally syndicated columnist in numerous newspapers. She is the most dangerous woman because of how many people listen to anything this crazy, cartoonish, bitch has to say/write. Last night, Ann Coulter, insulting homosexuals everywhere said that John Edwards was a huge faggot. When asked today for an apology, she replied, "I apologize to gays for saying Edwards was one of you." I hate Ann Coulter. I hate how Fox News interviews her like she's a journalist several times a week. (See prior blogs for my views on Fox News). Here are some of my favorite Ann Coulter quotes:

"I know Bill Clinton masturbates into sinks."
"I think women should be allowed to be armed but not allowed to vote."
"I think there should be a poll tax to vote."
"As Christians, we should declare war on the Middle East and all Muslim countries because we know God needs to punish those rag heads."
"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he didn't bomb the New York Times building too."
"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war. "


Shall I continue or does everyone get my gist? I am all for free speech and she has a right to shoot her mouth off whenever she feels like but what bothers me, what makes her so dangerous is how much ink is wasted on her. It bothers me how many minutes Fox News allows her to spit this filth at America and brainwash people. Fuck Coulter.