Shaun Mullen writes on his great site Kiko’s House about how Philadelphia’s two once-great newspapers are now appear as if they are dying a slow but very public death since the now defunct Knight Ridder chain sold them to an investment group.
This is a MUST READ because Mullen, who covered the O.J. Simpson trial, the Clinton impeachment, Vietnam and was also a top editor, worked for Knight Ridder and captures how newspapers moving into the 21st century are either changing form or battling financial cancer sparked by various factors including the Internet.
He gives a word snapshot of what’s going on in one city with two longtime legendary papers (I worked on the Knight Ridder paper in Wichita from January 1980-January 1982 and many reporters dreamed of working on the Philly newspapers) — and what may lay ahead as the century progresses if newspapers don’t adapt plus renew their commitment to maintaining a quality journalism product.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.