New Yorker Puts Papers Under the Microscope

Journalism and newspapers get The New Yorker treatment this week. The article (which we located on The Big Lead) has some crazy statistics -- The New York Times Co. has seen its stock price drop 54% since 2004 -- and brings up some good points, but too often it feels like a press release for The Huffington Post.

The article talks about blogs and does give some mention to other blogs, but HuffPost is the central theme when the reporter is not doling out miserable stats about newspapers. On the plus side, there are some incredibly insightful quotes from Rupert Murdoch, which give you an idea that the man really has vision and didn't just get to the top by putting boobs and blood into his papers.

Moreover, the article points out (correctly, I think) that the next few years will be a chaotic time in journalism. For some reason, in other new media (mobile web, for example), we understand that things are going to be in flux for a few years until a working business model emerges. In newspapers, however, we expect the transition to be quick and painless.