Chapter 6 Questions

1. Many metropolitan daily newspapers have lost circulation and some have shut down because the newspapers of the United States have all decided to go to the democratic side of the discussion. Newspapers are supposed to be unbiased and present the news. However, they are normally presenting the news with a democratic leaning. Sometimes the nuance of this left leaning bias is very subtle, but still present. People do not want to read bias articles and as a result they are losing business. People do not want to read opinion; they want to read the news. New York Times has announced that inn January, they intend to shut down a subsidiary that distributes newspapers and magazines in the metropolitan area. “This was a difficult decision to make since it affects a large number of dedicated employees,” the president and general manager of The Times, Scott Heekin-Canedy, said in a statement. “But the business environment has changed dramatically since 1992 when City and Suburban was formed and wholesale distribution is no longer an economical business for the Times Company.” This indicates that they were not making enough revenue to continue distribution in the metropolitan area. On the other hand, community newspapers are booming due to the fact that they are presenting news that is based solely on facts. They usually publish articles talking about non political offices that have occurred in that city, accidents, or local crimes. They do not include their own personal biases. An example of a community newspaper that is booming is my local newspaper from back home: The Chino Champion. My entire community reads it and quite frequently we recognize people in the newspaper which makes it very personal.

2. I chose to “delve” into the Daily Herald. The balance between hard and soft news, in my opinion, would be the section regarding technology. This topic creates a happy medium between facts and entertainment. Topics that are covered in the Daily Herald include: crime, business, courts, development, education, environment, government, health/medicine, history, military, politics, public safety, recreation, religion, senior citizens, transportation, and technology. I do not think that most newspapers are still the watchdogs they used to be mainly due to their subtle or transparent biases. Newspapers are no longer trying to inform the public of daily happenings. Now they are merely conveying their own opinions on matters, in the hopes of swaying their readers towards the same thinking as the authors.