Ian in the library… And out of it…

Interesting opinion piece about the woes of the New York Times over at ABC News. I don’t read a lot of news papers – I get my editorials from the blogosphere and my headlines from ctv, cbc and occasionally google news – but I really hope that the Times can learn its lessons and recover. I think the author of the piece makes an important point when he says:

Most newspapers adopted the always dangerous strategy of trying to become more like one’s competitors rather than establishing the defensible position of being even more true to oneself. Like most newspapers, the Times decided to become more timely, more hip, and more judgmental than the electronic media — when it should have become better reported, more objective, and better written; professionalism being the one arena where the new competitors would have a hard time competing.

Of course one could argue whether journalism is a profession at all…  Good writing/reporting seems more like an art form to me.