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Insiders’ Press Choices: Stagnation or Decline

There is not a single newspaper in our part of Wisconsin that is not stagnant or in decline.  Not one.

(Stagnation, truly, applies only if one keeps the interval of measurement small; look over any reasonable period and you’ll find ongoing decline.)  

When town squires and self-declared ‘movers and shakers’ look for a compliant publication, they’re choosing among newspapers that are smaller and weaker than they were even last year. 

Media are not stagnant or declining; there are plenty of growing means of expression: Facebook, Twitter, email, text messaging, Instagram, Pinterest, blogs, etc. 

For the old guard, though, for those who expect a soft touch from soft-headed newspapers, there’s less and less on which they may depend. 

They’ve lost a general audience for their views, and now desperately rely on papers with a waning readership, increasingly unrepresentative and out-of-touch. 

Odd, though, because even now it might be different, with a different approach. 

Might be, but probably won’t be, ever again.

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