My wife and I stopped getting the Hartford Courant two or three months ago. We had been thinking about it for a long time, and finally took the step when we found out we could get the Boston Globe delivered to our home. Over the last few years the Courant has declined dramatically. It is not quite a tabloid, but it’s certainly getting there. They just love them some crime, and nothing’s better than trying to whip up fear.
Still, it is sad to hear that the Courant’s “parent” company has just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Tribune Company has been struggling under the load of debt that Sam Zell incurred when he bought the company in the first place.
Okay, I’m no economist, but I’ve never been able to figure out how a company that was not doing that well in the first place could prosper when it was called upon to repay a purchase money mortgage on itself, in addition to paying the normal bills.
In any event, I truly hope the Courant is able to survive. It would be nice if some liberal Connecticut multi-millionaire would buy the Courant, make it an independent newspaper once again, and bring it back to the standard of excellence it once attained.
Newspapers are going through some wrenching times. They may not survive as producers of physical objects: i.e., actual newspapers. But we do need an independent press-one not totally in the pocket of corporate conglomerates for whom “news” is a commodity no different than soap. It’s not at all clear that an economic model will develop in the internet age that will allow journalists to ply their trade, truly educate the public, and make money. It’s not likely that it will be the large corporations that will find a way to do that.
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