Newspaper Guys to Blogger: We're Not Dead Yet

Posted by Nat Ives on 03.11.09 @ 05:37 PM

In the latest spat between old and new media, a newspaper chief lashed back at a blog's listicle on 10 newspapers it said were most likely to quit print next.

"If we hold up this type of blog 'reporting' as journalism, God save our democracy," said Brian Tierney, CEO of Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns the Philadelphia Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer, which recently filed for bankruptcy protection.

The listicle at a blog called 24/7 Wall Street -- and picked up by Time.com as part of a content-sharing agreement -- put the Daily News as one of the properties most likely to fold, citing, among other things, the fact that Tierney had filed for bankruptcy.

The blog also targeted the money-losing New York Daily News, prompting that paper to fire back Tuesday. "Had this writer made one phone call to the Daily News, he would know that every so-called fact [in the post] is wrong," News CEO Marc Kramer said.

Some of the blowback comes because Time.com gave the blog post high visibility. Time.com, where the list was "most read" and "most emailed" on Wednesday, ran the post as if it were a Time story written "By 24/7 Wall Street."

5 Comments

By 247wallst | new york, NY March 12, 2009 12:58:49 pm:

Did the NY Daily News publisher check the phone records of everyone who works at the paper? I doubt it.

How does he make that statement?

Douglas McIntyre

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By WILLIAM | NEW LONDON, CT March 12, 2009 01:09:31 pm:

Douglas McIntyre -- Publishers authorize only specific people to speak for their newspapers. The "NY Daily News publisher" apparently checked with those people -- the only people authorized to speak for The Daily News. If they weren't contacted, then it doesn't matter who was.

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By mondogrande | Ft Lauderdale, FL March 12, 2009 01:33:42 pm:

A typical blog - 10% fact and 90% opinion. Bloggers usually research a few articles that support their opinion and skip the time consuming, grueling fact finding research. But hey, thats all they have time for when cranking out several jaw dropping paragraphs a day is their goal. By giving blogs a plateform, big media is shooting itself in the foot. Would any journalist worth a damn take a bloggers statements as facts?

www.proudtoliveinamerica.com

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By 247wallst | new york, NY March 12, 2009 02:04:57 pm:

Tierney would not write me himself. He had his PR firm do it.

Of course, he made no guarantee that he would keep the paper open until the end of next year.

Douglas McIntyre

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By SCOTT | NASHVILLE, TN March 12, 2009 04:41:25 pm:

Here is the story about the demise of Newspapers I'd like to see. The Top 10 NewsPaper investigative reports that we won't get from bloggers. For example, Detroit had a horribly corrupt Mayor that cost a city with a shaky tax base to begin with millions of dollars. The Detroit Free Press broke the stories about him. They uncovered all his illegal dealings, they did the investigating, they filed the Freedom of Information Act requests, and, most importantly, they defended the challenges to their first amendment rights in court. Bloggers acting on their own aren't going to have the resources to do all that, and these extremely important stories aren't going to get told. Broadcast certainly isn't doing it. Bloggers may do some of it, but the minute the pressure is on, how many have the finances to hire attorneys and drag out court cases? I would venture to guess not many....

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