I don't remember exactly when it was when the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette started declaring itself one of America's great newspapers. Five...Ten years ago??? Maybe it was when they redesigned their front page years and years ago. All I can be sure of is that from 1992, when I first moved to this wonderful city, to now, the newspaper has done a steady decline in quality. There used to be two newspapers in this city. Back then, I thought the Pittsburgh newspapers rivaled those printed in New York City for story quality. Ever since the evening paper and the Sunday Pittsburgh Press went away, the quality of the Post-Gazette has been waning away. Journalism got lazy without the competition. I actually find the paper to be virtually unreadable now save for a few columnists. The Sports section is a travesty and if the game you're looking for didn't end by 11pm, you can forget about seeing a boxscore. Thank heaven for the internet. It pretty much has made all newspapers an archaic form of getting daily news. But, here in Pittsburgh, this has been the case for at least 5 years due to the drop in quality of the local rag.
I don't really have an interest in bashing the local paper for it's decline but I do take issue with its' self proclamation of being one of America's Great newspapers on it's front page. What exactly does a paper have to do to get such notoriety? Is there some sort of governing body that certifies such a distinction? Is there some sort of jury of peers that bestows that designation? All I know is that the paper is absolutely horrible, is filled with dated AP stories and is filled with the same tired nonsense that hardly evokes any thought provoking discussion. If this is one of America's Great newspapers, then I'm afraid that print news is dead.
It's a real shame that the only paper worth buying in this city is one that is published out of town. And don't get me started on the Tribune Review.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment