Bye Bye, Indy Star

I know I've been a chicken little on this before, but it sure looks like the Indianapolis Star is putting the finishing touches on ending its existence. From their soon not-to-be-seen-by-me website:

Full Access digital-only subscriptions are available for $12 a month, only 40 cents a day. Beginning Sept. 1, we will limit access to news and information content consumed through our website, smartphones and tablets. Nonsubscribers still will be able to read up to 20 stories a month on IndyStar.com before needing to subscribe.

Nothing has changed since 2009. The content the Star originates is not very good. They barely cover local government. Their columnists are shills for idiotic projects such as light rail.

Any media source has to deliver something unique. The Star is just like every other daily newspaper left in the US in one key way: The Sports Section is top notch. Everything else? A soup of AP/NYT/WaPo copy you can get anywhere, and thin, irregular coverage of everything else.

So, first they sell the building, then they announce a plan that will drive users away in huge numbers, and hurt their ability to sell ads for the online property. $12/month? I wouldn't pay $12/year for the Star's unique content.

Be sure to click the article and go to the comments. I have never seen the Star respond to comments, but in this case, they sent the cavalry. It just reeks of desperation.

Congratulations, Chard Reid!

Chard Reid is the Libertarian candidate for US House of Representatives in District 5. Reid is seeking to replace Republican Dan Burton, and his chances just got a healthy boost as the Indianapolis Star has endorsed him! From the Star endorsement article:

Reid, a young economics teacher at Plainfield High School, has taken the fight to Burton on taxes and the deficit. He maintains that the 14-termer has not worked for systemic change despite his conservative persona. Reid also offers thoughtful ideas for cutting spending, simplifying the tax code and reforming entitlements.

Reid represents the best of Libertarian small-government ideals. He would be a refreshing departure from the incumbent's complacency and cavalier attitude toward ethics.

I couldn't be more proud of Chard! Every Hamilton County voter will be able to vote for Chard, as the 5th District covers our county entirely.

Indy Star Reports on Kole Campaign

Indianapolis Star reporter Carrie Ritchie interviewed me recently about the campaign and about Hamilton County politics. Here's a link to the report.

Though Republicans have a strong grip on county offices, Kole thinks he can take some votes from Levine on Nov. 2.

"I think I'm a little more aggressively fiscally conservative and I can step to the right on economic issues," Kole said.

Kole worries the county spends too much money and believes it could make deeper cuts, especially now that it's struggling to balance its budget.

The budget and number of county employees has always been too high. Now that the county cannot afford to keep a bloated payroll, it should be obvious to anyone that the time to cut deeply is now.

Indy Star Rushes to Irrelevance

Is it just me, or did anyone else notice that trying to view the Indianapolis Star online now requires a password? Go ahead- give it a whirl: http://www.indystar.com/

The management seems hell-bent on making sure nobody reads. If I can't look for free at the Indy Star, no problem, I'll look at other free sites for news. There are plenty of them. The Star doesn't generate enough original content to make it worth my while to subscribe, and besides, they treated my campaign poorly, so I won't subscribe on principle.

I can think of just one or two subscription news websites that make any money. The Star's management has to know this. Maybe they just want to fold at this point.

Enjoy your accelerated trip to oblivion, Indy Star!

Update: Followed up on Todd's comment and found the Star fully accessible once again.

Dying Newspapers

A friend who grew up in Cleveland with me sent me a link to a Time Magazine article, saying that Cleveland's only remaining daily newspaper might close, and is among the 10 most endangered US papers.

I have a twinge of sadness about that, because I was a carrier for the Plain Dealer when I was a teen, and was a big team player. (We hated the Cleveland Press, advancing the rivalries managements had. We had rivalries with the kids who carried The Press, and celebrated when The Press folded. We picked up many of their former customers.) I have a twinge of sadness now for the rapid death of the newspapers, because they were once great institutions, at least when there were the rivalries, and papers tried to get the scoop on- get this- the local news!

But I do like to chuckle and enjoy the idea that the writers at any American daily tend to be left-of-center, that those left-of-center tend to believe in evolution, and that their livelihood is dying because they have failed, no, refused to evolve.

Going back to Cleveland, I'll never forget how The Guild refused to write for Cleveland Live when it started, because they were The Guild, and therefore above that newfangled internet fad. Cool by me! I was a free lance writer, and picked up some supplemental income on the 'fad'. Then The Guild reversed course after boatloads of money was spent on freelancers- because they were The Guild! The true professionals that belonged as the face of the 'newspaper'! Bwaaahahahaha!

I believe that newspapers made themselves irrelevant by refusing to be local. Hell- I can get all the national news I want as it happens- on cable news, talk radio, and internet. What do I need a repeat of what I know for, especially when that AP report is printed tomorrow? Even if they gave it as they happened, what makes their carriage of an AP report different than anyone else's? Look at the Indy Star, the Plain Dealer, or any other American daily, and you'll see the bulk of the paper filled by AP reports, or articles from the Washington Post or New York Times.

It's foolish. We have the national papers that have made their national niches: the NY Times, by virtue of being in NY; the Washington Post, by virtue of being in DC; the Wall Street Journal, by virtue of being on Wall Street. Every other paper in the US is dooming itself to go the way of the dinosaur, for refusal to evolve. Hell- those papers are national in a large way because they are local! Their locality happens to generate news of national interest.

Most papers have pretty good sports sections. Well, that's local news. How can they be so blind?

Darwin, newspaper! Darwin!

The Great Football Swindle

Oh, thanks, Indy Star. Way to be there for the citizens, telling them about the horse that has left the barn a couple of years ago. The Star published an in-depth story yesterday about where all the money generated at the new stadium will go. Mainly, it goes into Jim Irsay's pockets. This would have been information easy enough to suss out before the deal was done- you know, at a time important enough for the citizens to make it useful, before the votes.

But no. The Star prints it now. In all likelihood, the Star kept their mouths shut until after the raping, er, deal was long complete, so as not to have their football writers at risk for losing access to the team they cover.

It's infuriating to read about how the city of Indianapolis, which shouldn't be in the business of socialized sports anyhow, not merely helped build a palace for one man and his football team, but then gave this man the lion's share of the revenues. The man would have made out well if he built the stadium with his own money. Save me the boo-hoo-hoo for Jim Irsay. The guy inherited a football team.

I never really wonder at a man asking for the moon, stars, and sun, but I do wonder at a government that says, "Okay- no problem! You know what? Don't even bother giving us any Vaseline, either."

Fred Glass should go to jail. The Capital Improvement Board should be dissolved. It obviously has too much authority available, and clearly has no sense of priorties.

And the citizens! Where are Indiana's liberals who think inheritence taxes should strip away assets at death? Why weren't they at the fore of attacking this corporate welfare? I haven't heard them issue a peep about Jim Irsay and the Colts. Where are Indiana's conservatives, who are allegedly anti-tax? And, smaller government?

Socialized football... bread and circuses...