Actress Ava Gardner, a metaphor for USA Today

By Steve  Auslander

I retired early after 34 years at the same newspaper. I was an editorial writer at the end, but I’d had other jobs. For nearly 14 years, I ran the news operation. It makes me sad to see how over the past few years newspapers have been caught in such dire straits. I suppose I am fortunate that I no longer work in the business I once loved. It has changed. I have been out for seven years now, having left just before the business plunged into the financial abyss. There has been so much talk about the cuts and the future, that dark future of newspapers.

The talk today focuses on the Internet and how the newspapers gave away their franchise. Still, nothing much has changed in the business. Newspapers are still obsessed with style and seemingly indifferent about content. They are stodgy. Once was there was [Read more…]