I’m outside the Oregonian‘s offices at 1320 SW Broadway, trying to get a sense of the mood inside. Fortunately columnist Steve Duin just stepped out and gave me his perspective:
“The question we’re all asking: Is there more stability in taking the buyout offer or in staying at the newspaper?” he says. “I don’t know what the deal is at your shop, but we’re all at a total loss right now as to the future of our business, the future of journalism, and whether we have this ridiculous confluence of a bad economy and a rapidly evolving information system that might leave newspapers behind.”
“The buyout offer arrives at a really interesting time—it’s been intense for a while in there, but a lot of us are understandably and naturally conflicted, especially those of us who love what we do, about whether it’s time to pursue something else or renew our commitment,” Duin continues.
“There’s a great Ed Rickenbacker quote,” he says. “That you should never be afraid to quit a job, and a lot of us are trying to make sense of a business we assumed would be here for our lifetimes. Is the rug being pulled out from underneath us? Not by the Oregonian’s buyout offer, but by a business that’s rapidly changing?”
Anyone else inside fancies talking, I’ll be out here for a while. Thanks for your time, Steve.
I can empathize with the ‘O’ folks, and am totally on their side.
But that said, in mid 2008 to say that they’re in an industry that ‘might leave newspapers behind’ is a bit reflective of that medium’s stubbornness to recognize and adapt, kinda like the record companies.
Does anyone else recognize the irony of blogging the print-media giant in Oregon’s collapse right now? It made me chuckle for a moment there.
Does the continuing decline of local papers help national papers like the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, etc.? Seems to me like as these papers get shittier, the remaining people who still want to read a paper will turn toward one of the higher-quality nationals. The Times has gone from $1 to $1.50 in just over a year, so I suppose they’re not doing that well either, though.
What a classy move, coming out and telling a whippersnapper from a weekly what’s what while wearing suspenders no less. The only thing Duin is missing here is a brimmed hat with a “press” mark jammed in the side.
Der: are you really that stupid?
Dude has a bag on a strap over his shoulder.
Is there any way we can get Reinhard to accept all 100 buyouts? The informational value of the paper would jump immediately.
I mean, if I wanted republican talking points, I’d just load up Front Page Magazine (or Free Republic if I didn’t like long words and wasn’t too stuck on spelling). The formula for a typical Reinhard is:
rnc talking points + average writing skills / contempt for the readership = whatever column inches he has to fill * yawning with boredom once you realize that you’ve seen in all before on the TV or from a White House spokesdrone
And I cry and die a little inside whenever I see one of his awkward attempts at humor. He thinks he’s the conservative David Sarasohn. He has no idea.
Although someone once did say he wasn’t fit to lick Sarasohn’s shoes. I stuck up for him just that once; I said he was.
Duin is a class act.
Hopefully he stays!