Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Correction...newspapers were at one time the last bastions of so called real news, even then, the editor's of the papers slanted the news the way they wanted it to be slanted, that's human nature. It's just that they did a good job of hiding it. People today are getting their so called "real news" off the internet.

lowkick Loc: Connecticut

I saw this in our local paper. There was also a picture of a photographer they let go by the name of Todd Maisel. Does anyone know if he is related to famous photographer Jay Maisel?

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

I live in the Hartford, Connecticut, area. The Hartford Courant is supposed to be the paper of record for the area. Over the past ten to fifteen years they've cut staff; they've cut news (corporate policy dictates 1/2 of the paper be advertising); they used to have 2 pages for op/ed, with good opinion writers of national repute. Now they have their editorial, three letters to the editor, and a generic editorial cartoon, all on one page with a lot of blank space on it. On Sundays, you know they laid out the stories last Wednesday. Most of the local news is from news releases from various organizations and individuals. The only part of the paper that hasn't shrunk is the obituaries -- they sell the space for those! I subscribed 7 days a week for years, but with the decline in the standards, I stopped buying the paper. I now have to get it two days a week (for around 20 cents a week!) because my wife wants to advertising circulars (also declining in number) they send out with the paper on those two days. The Courant's problems are all self-inflicted.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

I was a journalist long before I was a real estate developer. I have a good friend who worked for the Courant in the 1970s. A good person, and a good journalist, who never let his views get in the way of the facts.

I disagree on the self inflicted part, but they certainly have contributed to their own death spiral, like all of the major corporate ownership groups. Newspapers need a new revenue model, due to circumstances that are way beyond their control. Sad, but nothing that is going to change in the near future.

People don't want to pay for things that they used to willingly give up their fifty cents a day for. That is a sad reality that we can't change.


That's my opinion, BU Journalism Major, School of Public Communications, Class of 1974.


Andy