Black and white and read all over … where?

Newspaper circulation continues its steep descent across the nation, while the local paper in Bend claims modest gains. This seems dubious, at best, since home foreclosures, record high unemployment and business failures have thinned expendable income considerably throughout Central Oregon.

The Bulletin didn’t keep up with the growth of Central Oregon in the boom times (the region tripled in size but circulation didn’t even double) and now, during the Great Recession, it finds itself furloughing workers and cutting their pay.

While Craig’s List decimated its classified section, other competitors have taken a bite out of the daily’s lucrative display advertising. Three local television stations, a number of radio stations, a free weekly, called The Source that has survived longer than any other upstart, plus the ubiquitous Internet have all eaten away at The Bulletin’s profits.

It’s still the top dog in town, in terms of news, but its influence has waned. By the mid-1990s, more Central Oregonians, for the first time ever, said they got their news from television rather than the daily newspaper. It was only a percentage point difference then, but that was before the World Wide Web. Yes, it was a 6-day afternoon paper then and it’s a 7-day morning paper now. But, much like papers across the country, the instantaneous nature of the Internet has made The Bulletin anachronistic. The paper runs articles from the New York Times, AP and others that anyone can read the night before or even days before.

Yes, The Bulletin does have a website, but it is routinely scooped by a single former employee, Barney Lerten, who runs the website for KTVZ, the NBC affiliate in town.

Of course, with about 10 times the resources, The Bulletin covers more ground than any other media in the area. The TV stations video crime, fires and accidents, much like most stations across the country. Radio steals from both print and TV. The
Source sits back and comments on all of them from a left-of-center perspective.

And, much like most newspapers in the country, The Bulletin is deeply conservative, pro-business, anti-union and is the chief cheerleader for growth, no matter what the cost to the environment, infrastructure or to business itself.

Newspapers are watchdogs on government, as they should be, but they merely serve up PR when it comes to business. Consequently, we are mired in the Great Recession.

Newspapers exist primarily because of advertising. If they become too critical of any business, the offended business will pull ads and the papers will suffer.

It’s almost impossible to get any unbiased reporting on any industry from newspapers because of this inherent conflict of interest.

So, instead of reporting the truth about how lousy American cars have been for decades, newspapers created special “advertorial” products that only say how wonderful these vehicles are. Astute consumers got the memo anyway from Consumer Reports (which accepts no advertising) and bought Japanese Toyotas, Hondas and Nissans.

And, instead of warning consumers of the housing bubble and the highly speculative nature of that bubble, newspapers published special real estate sections that only showed how it’s always the time to buy. Unfortunately, there was no one to advise consumers that it’s rarely, if ever, the time to buy a nearly $400,000 home, which was Bend’s peak median housing price in 2006, particularly when the median income was $56,000 in 2007.

(Ironically, few reporters or editors at any of the media outlets in Bend can afford to buy a home in Bend).

Newspapers routinely print special sections on a wide range of topics with no news value in order to entice advertisers. These sections don't entice readers.

It’s no wonder, then, that newspaper circulation continues to decline. Right-wing “hate” radio, plus Fox News, has the market cornered on government bashing, mainly Democratic governments.

Newspapers can’t compete on that front. And, since they choose not to truthfully inform readers about the major economic decisions in their lives, newspapers are becoming irrelevant.

The Internet is the place where consumers go for more accurate information about products they want to buy. There are a number of websites that allow consumers, be they happy or disgruntled, to vent their pleasure or anger. Yes, they aren’t completely trustworthy, but you can get a better sense from websites than from any newspaper on whether a Dodge Durango, for example, is worth purchasing. For the record, a Dodge Durango is not worth buying.

Newspapers have no one but themselves to blame for their diminished role in society. They chose this path. And that’s the way it is.