Monday, January 26, 2009
By the Way / Hannan / Media Have the French Solved the Newspaper Crisis? Je crois que non.
Posted by Caleb Hannan on Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 3:07 PM
One of Sarkozy's solutions to help the industry is a pilot program that will give teenagers celebrating their 18th birthday a free, yearlong subscription to any general news daily of their choice. The publisher is to give the newspapers away, while the state pays for the deliveries.The spin here is that, by giving them something they can already get for free on the internet, the French state will be helping to increase young people's interest in the news. Thus continuing a line of logic that has long since outlived its usefulness: Kids these days just don't give a shit.
Of course, the broader story here is that the government is helping to prop up the French newspaper industry while they, like the rest of the world, try to find a newer, profitable business model: Along with the free teenager handouts come a renewed pledge to beef up the government's newspaper ad budget and a ninefold increase in delivery subsidies.
Normally this is where we, as Americans, would make some joke about frog legs and socialism. But given the abundance of bail-outs in the past year, we are now told that doing so would make us look like gigantic hypocrites.
Damn you, Congress. You ceded the only moral high ground we had left. Now we can't even make fun of the French!
Comments (8)
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Free newspapers seems to be the wave of the future (and past). I pay for Sunday and The Daily Fishwrap here delivers the rest of the week for free. Gotta keep those circulation numbers up.
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Yes but : The French have the longest manhoods in the EU! according to Bild.
http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/world-news/2008/12/01/penis-length-study/french-have-longest-penises-in-the-eu.html
I once knew a girl or two from Essex and Norwich who could offer more specific testimony as to Gallic manhood.
I'm secure enough to say they do have delicious herb-encrusted sausages that I'll happily put into my mouth.
As to the holding camp that is American journalism in the 21st century, all I can say is that you may miss us when we're gone.
What newspaper crisis?
If every newspaper in the country went out of business tomorrow, it wouldn't make a particle's worth of difference.
Now Gil, tsk, tsk. You know there is a certain snob factor satisfied by the presence of the New York Times, WSJ, Wash Post, LA Times etc's. presence on the coffee table. They might remain unread; probably mostly are, but they're there. Tacit reminders to visitors of the quality of their host's socio-economic status.
I will confess however: I love seeing them all sweat. It's about time.
""Normally this is where we, as Americans, would make some joke about frog legs and socialism.""
of course not, frog legs are english's sarcastic jokes, not american one, though, since an australian owns your minds, not only brits jokes seems to flock out to this ocean side, but their subjet behaviours toward their "masters" monarchs, that it turned not to be holy bloods these days, but the crooks money mongers that pumps the money and leaves you in a sheet that even the whole world's monetary funds can't bail out!
oooppss
Meanwhile, two more are missing after the tragedy occurred. Many are listed as killed, missing or wounded after the event and are in search of an integer and a list of the names of the victims involved Nashville Newspaper http://usspost.com/nashville-newspaper-916…
The Sun is a daily tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
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