Old Media Attacks the New Media

Are Blogs Dishonest or Are Newspapers Increasingly Less Relevant?

It's not uncommon, and frankly it seems increasingly more common, to see in a newspaper or elsewhere in mainstream media some crushing criticism of blogs. The first such criticism I saw in it's full vitriolic glory was in the Boston Globe.

Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy and Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling haven't been what one might call friends almost from the moment Schilling arrived from Arizona. Last year, when Schilling started his own blog, effectively cutting journalists out "of the loop" as it were, Shaughnessy went off: Curt Schilling isn't one to sit on an opportunity to get an unfiltered message to the fans (as though this could perhaps be a bad thing). He then goes on to describe an ersatz (Dan, that means pretend) dialogue between Schilling and fans with screen names such as Sycophant, lapdog, and Suckup.

Presumably only paid columnists, such as, say Mr. Shaughnessy, are able to get to the bottom of the matter and filter content appropriately.

When athletes such as Schilling stake out their own communication media and communicate through those avenues rather than through the media, it limits the ability of media to rail against an athlete who won't talk to the fans. So, the only place to go is to attack the medium on which the athletes choose.

Do a Google search for newspaper layoffs and you will find a slew of stories about newspapers reducing staff the Boston Globe included. Advertising revenue is drying up as most readers flock to the Internet. Digital media. Newspapers and broadcasting media are currently failing to figure out how to survive and are reducing their ranks in ever growing numbers.