Singing the News Blues

Of course, most newspapers still make plenty of money, just not enough to satisfy Wall Street. But the net effect is a downsizing wave that will hurt the core product.

Not that belt-tightening is the biggest problem. Although newspapers remain unmatched vehicles for depth, context and investigations, all the excitement these days seems to surround cable news, talk radio and bloggers (one reason papers are investing more online, where younger folks get much of their news). And sometimes they just seem, well, slow. When Bush made 8 a.m. announcements in nominating Harriet Miers and Samuel Alito, the news felt thoroughly chewed over by the time newspapers hit doorsteps the next morning.

As the Columbia Journalism Review asks in its new issue: "Take a look at the front page of your newspaper today. How many stories are on events that the average reader has already heard something about? The Metro section, is it riveting and creative? Or incremental and cramped? Does the paper have strong voices? . . . Does it have any fun? Does the photography speak volumes? Does the Web site offer more than digital newsprint? Can a reader get into the conversation? Do you want to read this newspaper?"

Some magazines are also suffering -- U.S. News & World Report has been decimated by layoffs, including that of chief political reporter Roger Simon -- and network news is suffering from a long-term audience slide. In an effort to dig its morning and evening newscasts out of third place, CBS has just turned over its news division to . . . a sports guy, Sean McManus, with no news experience. Seven months after Dan Rather stepped down in the wake of the botched National Guard story, CBS Chairman Les Moonves keeps rejecting proposed formats and anchor changes for the "Evening News" -- saying he hasn't found the right combination that would lure 40-year-olds, not 60-year-olds, into watching.

ABC is similarly trying to reinvent "Nightline," responding to Ted Koppel's imminent departure with a three-anchor lineup and an abandonment of the single-story format that some programmers now regard as quaint in a channel-surfing universe. Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran and Martin Bashir may be able to jump-start the franchise, but Disney executives were perfectly willing to junk it three years ago in favor of David Letterman. And ABC has yet to settle on a successor to the late Peter Jennings, in part because of concern about pulling Charlie Gibson off the more lucrative "Good Morning America."

Except for an uptick during Hurricane Katrina, the media's stock seems to be in a gradual decline -- journalistically, financially and psychologically. That is unlikely to change as long as journalists keep behaving in ways that alienate their audiences.

Media Morsels

At 86, Andy Rooney still isn't pulling punches. "The emphasis used to be on collecting and then distributing the news," he tells CBS's Public Eye blog. "The emphasis now is on saving money. CBS management is saving money better than the reduced news staff is collecting and distributing the news."

Before interviewing a Russian journalist, Brooke Gladstone, co-host of National Public Radio's "On the Media," mentioned a Slate article by Fred Kaplan -- who, as it happens, is her husband. Gladstone told NPR's ombudsman that the article deserved credit and "to stop at the point and say, by the way, 'he's my husband,' would have only distracted the listener from the setup for the interview with a piece of trivia." But Acting Vice President Bill Marimow said it was a mistake.

There was lots of buzz when NBC's Tim Russert, a key figure in Valerie Plame case, appeared in the federal courthouse last week. Was he being interrogated again? Had a new grand jury been empaneled? Turns out he was just . . . on jury duty. But Russert was more interested in talking about the barrier he broke Friday, becoming the first television journalist ever admitted to the newspaper-dominated Gridiron Club.

By the way, if you want to know everything there is to know about Maureen Dowd, her column (which she says she got only because she's a woman) and her new book on the war between the sexes, check out my weekend profile heret;

Since Dowd's book is called "Are Men Necessary?", Katie Roiphe in Slate asks whether she's necessary. Tough crowd out thert;

Here's the perfect LAT story: Warren Beatty and Annette Bening trying to crash Arnold's party just before tomorrow's special electiot;