I was on the toilet, reading one of the few magazines i still buy on a regular basis. And realized why people are buying fewer and fewer newspapers.
The web did not kill the press. Press killed itself. It was a combination of lack of professional journalism and news overload. Almost all of Romanian economic press (except maybe ZF and Capital) is done by students, who lack the language and the understanding of economy. I don’t buy a a newspaper to read articles written by people more stupid than me, i do it because i want to be informed by people stupider than i am, but with more information.
The news are boring. 99% of the news are not to be cared about. I don’t care about mining accidents in China or snowing in Beirut. I really don’t. But this magazine news are all over now. I know, AP and Reuters are making money with their “news of the world” feed, and the video footage is cheaper than putting a 3 men crew to drive somewhere to get the news.
There is no investigation. I miss the good old investigation journalism. You know, running with a camera in your hands and 2 guys after you, because you took a picture you shouldn’t. I guess journalists got used to Google and the phone and forgot how it was in the old days.
There is no opinion. I used to love editorials. Smart people just putting it down. Now there are so many of them that is hard to find a good one. The old ones got lost on the way. They tried to do journalism and business and money and there was no time left for saying something that matter.