A "cycle of purchase and cannibalization":
What happens when a broadcasting or newspaper property has been reduced to nothing of value?...
The big loser in this destruction is our democracy. There was a time when every Portland station had robust news operations, news analysts and weekly newsmaker interviews. A viewer gained some sense of what was going on in Salem by watching these shows.
No more. Local television has virtually removed itself from the democratic process. It participates in the democracy only as broadcaster of wall-to-wall campaign ads in the election season. For that, the station is handsomely rewarded.
If you wonder why Oregon’s political conversation is so incoherent and lethargic, this is part of the answer. Our statewide dialogue has been diminished dramatically over the past two decades, as the stations abandoned the business of serious journalism. Meanwhile, Oregon Public Broadcasting has not risen to the challenge of filling the void.
Ouchie.
Typical of the us vs. them thoughts of so many print people.
It's really too bad that they are a dying breed as their readers and advertisers quickly transition to the internet.