The market is dying because of the internet. Notes of condolence are left online. There are no more books. When the current generation of old people who don’t use computers are gone, newspaper Obit classifieds will disappear.
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Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"
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The market is dying because of the internet. Notes of condolence are left online. There are no more books. When the current generation of old people who don’t use computers are gone, newspaper Obit classifieds will disappear.
- Oct 22, 2015
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- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
I kind of feel the same way regarding photographic (and other) history when all the hard drives come crashing down and all the "clouds" dissipate in our Pixelated® world!
Long live truly archival black & white film (cue La Contessa)!
- Oct 22, 2015
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- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
It's a pretty big deal to make a front page news obit.
Writing that obit is often a very-last-minute job. In fact it was the very last task I had on my desk before I left for The Cool Job. I was working the rim on the copy desk and someone famous who lived here went toes up. Only reporter left in the building is working on another story. Sports guys are too busy to help and we on the copy desk only offer help to them (when we're bored).
Next morning I was on a plane and on my way.
Black and white?
Writing that obit is often a very-last-minute job. In fact it was the very last task I had on my desk before I left for The Cool Job. I was working the rim on the copy desk and someone famous who lived here went toes up. Only reporter left in the building is working on another story. Sports guys are too busy to help and we on the copy desk only offer help to them (when we're bored).
Next morning I was on a plane and on my way.
Black and white?
I get it. This isn’t the same as looking at the real thing. Libraries want to scan all their photo archives, then make the originals unavailable. Why would you want to see one in person when you can access it online?
- Oct 22, 2015
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- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
Opting for the organic original over the digital approximation every time.
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,164
- 256,832
- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
Why can't we all just plan ahead?
See?
Common knowledge in the reporter pool [of days gone by] is be part of the community you're working for. That's how your paper doesn't get any last minute surprises. People tend to tell stories over drink. Otherwise you would never know there was a war hero who lived here.
My observation is, on the whole, funeral directors are no better writers than church secretaries.
Did I mention that we finally got to see the Ilse Bing show at the CMA. Wonderful! All Leica! All black & white!
Now that's funny right there, I don't care who you are.
The reporter pool has changed. At one time, reporters held court in the bar across the street. Today there are a lot less writers on staff. They’re distributed in different cites, each working for different papers. The string of papers are owned by someone who rarely visits the paper. Meetings are online. Job assignments come from a boss in some far off land. Welcome to a virtual world.
- Oct 22, 2015
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- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
[in my day] editors are the last news staff to leave the building. And somehow, as if by magic, there is a tacit agreement with the local constabulary that a certain lemonade stand and its patrons are to be left alone after hours.
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,164
- 256,832
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- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
By the way, none of this recollection makes me miss a single moment I spent as a newspaper employee. 
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,164
- 256,832
- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
News side people including reporters and editors are unwelcome in the composing room. The composing room, in the time of cold type, is where the pages are assembled to be sent to camera. The editors permitted in the composing room are there to proof and sign off their pages. On the whole, composing room folk don't much care for editor folk, and visa versa.
Befriending the composing room foreman opens all manner of opportunity. However nobody and I mean nobody does time in the composing room or pressroom without undergoing, er let's say tests of character.
Befriending the composing room foreman opens all manner of opportunity. However nobody and I mean nobody does time in the composing room or pressroom without undergoing, er let's say tests of character.
There was a time when a paper was called a broadsheet for a reason. You could hide behind a newspaper and live in your own world. With cost cutting, pages got narrower, type got smaller. Technology allowed them to do what they couldn’t before. Just because they can doesn’t mean that they should. The number of pages decreased. They started putting links, read more about this store here. They gave us a reader’s digest synopsis in the paper in a tabloid format. The Monday paper got so thin that I could read it in five minutes. Eventually they started running on only six days, then five. Some went down to Saturday only. Others are completely online. Environmentalists decry the waste of newsprint. Who needs presses and their unions. Those grand buildings in the city are torn down or converted into hotels and condos.
If a paper is owned by a billionaire, why is profit so important. After all, their goal is to control, not to make money. Those people destroyed an era that dates back to the 16th century and the 1800’s when high volume newspaper presses were introduced.
If a paper is owned by a billionaire, why is profit so important. After all, their goal is to control, not to make money. Those people destroyed an era that dates back to the 16th century and the 1800’s when high volume newspaper presses were introduced.
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,164
- 256,832
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- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
Tabloid is a folded broadsheet and is the ideal physical format for morning commutes on public transportation. You can turn the pages of a tabloid without bumping into the bloke next to you. Educational levels of workers on public transportation trends downward, and the editorial content is adjusted for that.
W.R. Hearst figured out he could start a war with his newspaper empire, and he did. Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland's Thompson gun and bought it.
W.R. Hearst figured out he could start a war with his newspaper empire, and he did. Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland's Thompson gun and bought it.
D
Geez, I sure miss Warren Zevon.
I'm glad I knew W.R.H's grandson, but not him, or Patty.
Another wonderful night at work. Three weeks now since my last day off. Bad weather caused a power outage here earlier today and the 25 year old computers that run our machines didn't like that one bit. Still dealing with issues including no network connection to the outside. Posting this with my phone. Gonna be a looooooong night.
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