Dying Dinosaurs

Maybe left-leaning readers and foundations will rush in where wise advertisers are increasingly reluctant to tread, but I'm not sure—these folks may be wrong but they're not stupid. Some are now advocating government bailouts of dying newspapers, often via artfully created rescues such as special tax treatments and preferences. Some are arguing that the nation will be imperiled by an information deficit that will endanger us more than budget deficits. That's unlikely: News of importance, like mosquitoes facing bed nets, will find a way to get through.

So, let's be frank about motivation: Many liberal journalists are concerned not so much about newspapers in general but about saving their jobs. Even with endowments and contributions, many of those jobs in their present form will disappear. News distribution via computer is so much cheaper that even an endowed New York Times would not last all that long in paper form. Goodbye, survival of the fattest.

Newspapers can thrive on the web if they find a way to monetize the content that competition now forces them to give away almost for nothing. That's why the great technological hope, the new Kindle DX that debuted early in May, excites some journalists. Kindle is a thin, flat device for reading electronic books; Kindle DX has a larger screen suitable for displaying newspaper content. Some newspapers that went online for free will now try to put the genie back in the bottle by selling their content only to electronic subscribers.

That will be hard—and in any event the deeper questions concern worldviews. Here lie enormous opportunities for Christians. Two decades ago we needed tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to compete. Now, almost any person reading this can become an editor/publisher this very day. Access is easy, but talent and commitment are rare. Do we have enough?