Por qué cierra un diario

El cierre del Ann Arbor News no quita el sueño a casi nadie en Esta Casa. Pero ha levantado un interesante debate en la ciudad. Espigueo en un blog local y traigo acá algunas perlitas de entre los comentarios:

:: Designated Conservative dice: I love newspapers, and wanted to love the Ann Arbor News. Unfortunately, the News' leadership lost touch with their readership a number of years ago. The paper failed because it became irrelevant to its current and future readers. Not because of technology and the Internet, but because of a failure of leadership.

:: Don dice: […] I'm not sure readership is the issue. Ads pay for the news. Newspapers across the country are losing ad revenue. And this is Michigan, where the economy has vaporized. The largest employer, the University of Michigan, doesn't need to use The News to advertise its events, jobs, or anything else. In fact, most of its listings are run for free, like the newspaper would for any non-profit or community group.

:: Tom Gantert dice: I am a reporter for the Ann Arbor News.
The problem has nothing to do with the paper's management losing touch with the readers. The problem isn't with readers tuning us out.
It's advertising and how technology has changed that aspect of business.
[…] You will not find a newspaper in this country that is doing better today than it was 15 years ago.
Not one.
You can't blame that on The Ann Arbor News.

Interesante como el reportero acaba por dar la razón a Designated Conservative pero rechaza su responsabilidad. La misma esquizofrenia que uno advierte en colegas aqui y allá. Cierran los diarios y nadie tiene culpa. Es el hado, el destino... Absurdo. [Via El Gran Carlos.]