Freedom From The Press

It's a good thing Richard Doak is retired from the Ragister, because Gannett just might have permanently furloughed him for comments in this editorial...

Newspapers matter, for democracy's sake

Newspaper corporations have been paying their CEOs millions of dollars a year. These corporate chieftains have only one job, really - to develop the new business model and guide their operating units through the transition to a new era of success.

The CEOs simply haven't earned their pay. Amid bankruptcies, closings and shrinking news staffs, the industry is no closer to a successful new model than it was five years ago.

If the big newspaper corporations can't reinvent their product, perhaps it's time to break them up.

I've met Dick Doak a couple of times and he is genuinely a nice person, so I hope he was able to pull his pension & 401K away from Gannett's control.

I used to love the Ragister, Chris and I once made a drive to Kansas City fly by with my ideas on how they could fix it.

That was 20 years ago, now I say (with apologies to Ron White) take it down I don't give a shit and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Stunningly Michael Kinsley seems to agree...

Life After Newspapers

If General Motors goes under, there will still be cars. And if the New York Times disappears, there will still be news.

FYI Dick, the First Ammendment established freedom of the press, not newspapers.