The Fourth Estate

The Fourth Estate

Since 1990, more than one quarter of all American newspaper jobs have disappeared. Such is the data included in Eric Alterman’s report in the New Yorker: Out of Print, The life and death of the American Newspaper.

“It no longer requires a dystopic imagination to wonder who will have the dubious distinction of publishing America’s last genuine newspaper. Few believe that newspapers in their current printed form will survive. Newspaper companies are losing advertisers, readers, market value, and, in some cases, their sense of mission at a pace that would have been barely imaginable just four years ago.” For those concerned about journalism and democracy in America, it’s a bit hard to read Alterman’s report.