Does the constant reduction of the number of newsroom employees at the various and sundry newspapers remind anyone of the old medical procedure of bloodletting? The cure, which called for doctors to remove a quantity of blood from a sick person, would sometimes make the patient’s condition worse and in some cases would kill him/her off.
Won’t eliminating a publication’s contents to achieve an increase in circulation have the same effect as an overprescription of bloodletting?
At one time, bloodletting was prescribed to rid the body of ‘bad humors’ or ‘satanic influences.’ In the same way, the modern purges should be directed at the two most useless, if not actively evil, factions at the average newspaper — the wealthy publishers and the bean counters he or she hires. These are the two groups who have ruined the modern newspaper more than any other.
Comment by RS Janes — May 26, 2009 @ 6:01 pm