The Pocket Veto

THE POCKET VETO | Christopher Devine
March 10, 2007 01:51 AM

Six months ago, I received my first copy of the New York Times and I couldn’t have been happier. Every morning, all the news that’s fit to print was hand delivered to my front door in a blue plastic bag! What more could a young college graduate ask for?

In a matter of weeks, I became an authority on the New York Times. I quoted it three, four, five times a day. I knew the news inside and out and I felt like a responsible citizen!

For six months, I read the newspaper like it was going out of style. And then, one morning, I woke up and I realized that the newspaper is going out of style.

In 2005, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported an industry-wide circulation decline of 1.9%.

But declining newspaper circulation isn’t a new phenomenon. Between, 1984 and 2003, daily circulation of American newspapers fell 13%. During the same period, advertising revenue made little change. In 1985, newspaper advertising was $43.04 billion; In 2003, $44.94 billion: only a 4.4% increase over eighteen years. Incidentally, the GDP grew 161% over the same eighteen years. (All values measured in 2003 dollars.)

These unfavorable numbers have forced major newspaper companies to make significant cuts. In October of 2006, LA Times publisher Jeff Johnson was fired for refusing to cut newsroom staff, defying orders from parent company Tribune Co. The following month, Times editor Dean Baquet was fired for siding with Johnson. The Los Angeles Times has the fourth largest subscription base in the United States–topped only by USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.

The bottom line is this: The newspaper industry is floundering.

On the morning of Tuesday March 6, 2007, former White House official Lewis “Scooter” Libby was indicted on two counts of perjury, one count of obstruction of justice, and one count of making false statements to federal investigators.

Moments after the verdict was announced, the story was all over the internet. I happened to read about it on my CNN widget. (A “widget” is a ticker, of sorts, and a prominent feature of Mac OS X Tiger.)

By early afternoon, bloggers had taken the verdict out for a spin–providing every possible perspective (some well-thought and well-wrought, others, well… not so much).

In the late afternoon, NPR’s Flagship magazine “All Things Considered,” featured a recap of the headlines, in-depth analysis of the story, and several interviews with key players.

Now, both Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien were off this week. But, boy would they have had a field day.

So, by the time I went to bed on Tuesday night, I had Lewis “Scooter” Libby coming out of my ears.

When my paper arrived the following morning, I didn’t read it. I didn’t need to. I knew the story. I knew that Scooter blinked twice when the verdict was announced, I knew that several tears trickled down his wife’s cheek as she hugged the defense attorneys, and I knew there was already speculation about a presidential pardon. The news I was receiving was old. The twenty-four hour news cycle–fueled by radio, television, and the internet–had rendered my newspaper redundant.

Of course, newspapers provide more than just news (especially the New York Times). Papers often include news analysis, human interest features, arts criticism, et cetera. But newspapers no longer have a monopoly on these plots of intellectual property. The same information can be obtained on the internet, for free–not only from blogs, but from newspaper and magazine websites!

Incidentally, The New York Times is one of the few papers that charges readers for unlimited access to its material. This has aroused quite a bit of criticism. Following the introduction of TimesSelect (a paid, online service), Times op-ed columnist Thomas Friedman declared, “I hate it. I feel totally cut off from my audience.” And indeed, he was.

I write, sometimes, on a 1947 Smith-Corona “Sterling” typewriter, and I use a rotary telephone from the 1920s. I am terribly fond of all things old fashioned–practical or not. So, naturally, I quite enjoyed reading the newspaper. But as I began to explore other mediums (I do realize I arrived a bit late to the blogosphere), the newspaper became less and less essential in my life.

Stacks of paper began accumulating on my coffee table, and then on my couch, and then on the floor. At which point I picked up my rotary telephone and dialed the Times customer service number. (When the automated operator asked me to “press 1 for English,” I had to hang up and redial from a touch-tone.)

Concerned about wasting paper and wasting money (my daily subscription was almost $50.00 a month), I decided to limit my service to Sundays. I will now enjoy the New York Times Magazine and the Book Review in the old stile, while embracing the fast and free news distribution services of the 21st century.

New York Times, it’s been a fun ride. But you’re bad for the environment and you’re really slow.