Changng Times

News item: The New York Times is reducing its newsroom staff again as digital distribution gains.

   Many believe the primary function of a newspaper is to inform the public. That's not quite true. A newspaper is a business, and while distributing information is a major function, the primary goal is to make money for the publisher. And the main source of revenue is advertising.
   Without readers, of course, there would be no advertisers, so in a sense the two departments -- news and advertising -- are co-equals. The first attracts readers, who in turn attract advertisers, who bring in the money that pays reporters' salaries, printers' wages,  press room expenses, clerical payrolls and other expenses. The cover price, moreover, barely pays for the newsprint the publication is printed on.
   Meanwhile, the digital age of computers, interconnected in a worldwide web of information sources, is eroding the prime revenue source for news outlets. Result: Many are refocusing their efforts from print publications to digital distribution methods. Along the way, newsrooms are reducing their staff levels for print publications and expanding their staff in the new technology.
   This doesn't mean that the new journalists are any less expert in covering the news. Rather, the distribution method for the information has changed. At root, the newsgathering process starts, as always, with a reporter and a notebook, who then goes to a keyboard to write the story. That's where technology takes over, so the public benefits from the availability of more information, sooner, faster and more complete than ever before.

   It is also true that some advertisers, believing that they help to pay reporters' salaries, expect favorable treatment and threaten to cancel ads if they don't get their way. A good response to that, however, is to remind the advertiser that if he can influence coverage, so can his competitor.
   In any case, as a newspaper loses its independence in covering the news, it loses readers. As readers leave, so do other advertisers, and thus revenue goes down and the publication goes out of business. That may be fine with the aggressive advertiser who demands favorable treatment, thus enabling him to start his own publication, which becomes little more than a marketing sheet without objective and neutral news coverage.
   No readers, no advertisers. No ads, no revenue. No revenue, and the business fails.
   Readers quickly recognize that the reports are slanted and biased, so they go to other sources of information.

   Meanwhile, too many politicians and corporate executives confuse "fair" with "favorable." They believe that when news outlets report negative or unfavorable items, they are being "unfair." The reality, however, is that good reporters and editors are neutral. They don't care about the opinions of a politician or corporate executive. Their concern is finding and writing up a good story. And in the real world, readers care more about bad news than other kinds.

   A Constitutionally guaranteed free press means that someone who is unhappy with coverage of his activities is free to start his own publication, or to buy an existing newspaper and demand that reporters and editors hew to the new owner's guidelines.
   Recent events have led to the suspicion that the billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who recently bought the Las Vegas Review Journal, has been pressuring reporters and editors to back off on coverage of the new owner's activities, and refocus their efforts with investigative reports on those he perceives as his adversaries.
   The new publisher and the new editor, both appointed by Adelson, deny any such influence, but the evidence is clear enough for several reporters to resign.
   It is true, of course, that in a free press society any newspaper owner can stipulate how and whether any particular story is handled, and can hire journalists sympathetic to his views to report and write stories favorable to his friends and critical of those who are not.
   Historically, this was far more common in the 19th Century than today. But times have changed. News and information sources are far more in number as well as faster in their ability to spread news as well as gossip and rumor.
   An important difference, however, is that responsible and independent news outlets, both print and broadcast as well as electronic, have thoughtful and neutral reporters and editors to filter out the propaganda and to expose the lies, half truths and innuendos so popular among those who seek to mold public opinion to their views.