FredOnEverything is small potatoes, except to me. Right now, the press is a closed club. The New York Times quotes CBS, which quotes the Wall Street Journal, which quotes the AP, which quotes the New York Times. Web pubs haven't broken the circle, and may never do so. The question is whether it matters.
Newspapers are in decline.
The public is illiterate, they decide, doesn't read, isn't involved in national life. The possibility that they might have a lousy product doesn't ruffle the smooth surface of their minds. Editors don't get it. They remind me of dinosaurs looking with puzzlement at the film of ice growing on the swamp, and thinking it will probably go away. Meanwhile, the Web is increasingly the newspaper of choice for smart people.