everything they touch turns to...

the deterioration of formerly good newspapers when taken over by profit-mad media giants has been documented many times before. the combination of attempting to increase circulation and reducing costs at all costs generally leads to an appeal to the lowest common denominator in the audience. news media seem particularly vulnerable to this degradation, not just the print press, but broadcasters as well. when combined with the rise of media monopolies which tend to stifle competition, you get kaka, except for perhaps a few fringe outlets with little clientele or influence.

the mass media and its customers is one market that cannot possibly benefit from regulation and oversight, indeed, it must be kept completely private and government-free at all costs (for obvious reasons). still, when left to the vagaries of the marketplace, it also has a tendency to go the same route as junk food and pottery barn. no one regrets good work being paid well, but the profit-for-profit's-sake mentality befouls everything it comes into contact with.

at least, we can be reassured that media monopolies and corporate greed will not necessarily lead to thought control. these goons don't really care what we think, as long as they get the audience, and the advertisers. what we really have to worry about is the destruction of all thought, period. give me good old fashioned literate and informed bias over strictly middle-of-the-road infotainment any day.

bad newspapers are not a modern invention, they've been around since the invention of moveable type. but at least, at one time it was possible for quality journalism to carve some sort of niche for itself in the marketplace. the modern tendency to see the press as a revenue generator only, instead of a piece of fine cratsmanship, even art, that also was capable of being self-supporting if it could attract committed and literate readership, is over. the flurry of high-quality, low-volume outlets on the internet, etc is an encouraging development, but they exist only to service a moneyed elite and have little widespread influence any more.