At the local level, we spend money on a paper owned by USA Today with a token view of Ithaca news. But, come on. On this past Monday they were headlining a fire... that took place last Wednesday. What?!?
And that's why I support an online-only paper, The Ithaca Voice. I get news about local politics, police actions, schools, and building and zoning prospects. In the first I read the comics and the advice column. (Okay, to be honest, during football season, I read the sports section too.) That's it.
At the national and world level, I read The New Yorker, The Week, Time magazine's online newsletters and The New York Times. I left my Time magazine subscription when the Koch brothers bought it, but not surprisingly in this world today, they're not the bad guys so much anymore. The brothers, only one now, have refrained from too much meddling. That's unlike the two tech billionaires who bought papers, The Washington Post and The LA Times, which have, this past week, refused to endorse any candidate for the president.
Did they do this out of a sense of moral responsibility to the public, believing the public should come to their own conclusions? No. Both papers had prepared, expected and were ready to endorse. What happened was that these tech bros* decided to play nice with the bully, hedge bets or hope for insider positions - whatever anyone wants to call it. But, it sure wasn't for any journalist reason.
Employees have resigned and subscribers have canceled at both papers.** Now, let's hope the owners' late-making decisions come back to bite them in the butt too. If America can be bought by spoiled billionaires spoiling for more of the pie, we truly are in trouble
What Can I Say?
*Tech bros are newer and younger and perhaps the richer relatives to the old white men I rail against. Sure of their opinions and wanting their way, there is no thought to values, others and what is best for the country. And, yes, I know not all white men and certainly not all tech people are in this group. But the ones I can't stand sure are.
Afterword. As of last night, two hundred thousand subscribers had canceled at the Washington Post. Previously, having read an oped on that very topic, that's not so good. It won't hurt Bezos but it will hurt all the people who work at the paper. The writer's opinion was that people should be canceling their Prime subscription instead. Makes sense, but it probably won't happen. Instead of hitting Bezos, the cancelations will be hurting the working class. How sad. These guys are so insulated regular Americans don't have much of a chance against them. Our best bet? Vote. Vote for people who will regulate them and work for the middle class.
