{"id":2167,"date":"2007-08-29T10:02:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-29T16:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/08\/the-likely-loss-of-the-tribune-marks-a-sad-day\/"},"modified":"2007-08-29T10:02:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-29T16:02:00","slug":"the-likely-loss-of-the-tribune-marks-a-sad-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/08\/the-likely-loss-of-the-tribune-marks-a-sad-day\/","title":{"rendered":"The likely loss of the Tribune marks a sad day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Whitney Cheshire<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Albuquerque Tribune<\/a> looks like it\u2019s gone with the wind: Do we pop open the bubbly or draw the shades and stop the clocks? <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Yesterday, the Tribune announced that it will be shutting its doors unless an unexpected buyer shows up to purchase the Scripps-owned, afternoon news publication. The Tribune\u2019s circulation has dropped to a tiny 11,000 and rumors of its slipping solvency have been bolstered by visible cutbacks on Web site coverage and the recent exit of longtime managing editor Kate Nelson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Some conservatives would like to throw a party.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Seriously. I\u2019ve been helping Republican candidates here in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> for an awfully long time, and for the most part, the editorial board at the Tribune has felt like Public Enemy Number One.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Tribune editorial board rarely misses an opportunity to bash President George W. Bush \u2013 on anything, you name it \u2013 or endorse Democratic candidates over Republicans. Board members have been consistent cheerleaders for just about every left-wing, big-government, liberal piece of policy \u2013 local, state and national \u2013 with very few exceptions. Their editorials and candidate endorsements are so predictably one-sided that most Republican campaigners in Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> don\u2019t even pay attention to their rantings and ravings anymore. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In fact, the only reason I keep a subscription to the Tribune is because I don\u2019t know anybody else who does, and you never know when you\u2019ll need a hard copy of an article for something.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Oh. And there\u2019s also the fact that I like their in-state political news coverage. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Long-time political reporters Kate Nash<\/a> and Eric Seimers<\/a>, most notably, have been as consistently unbiased in their reporting as their editors have been in their biased editorializing. Unlike the small army of political reporters who sought greener pastures with Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s administration, Seimers and Nash, along with a few others, have made a go of it and served the people of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> well.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Tribune also hosts a wide variety of pundits. Our own Heath Haussamen<\/a> writes for the paper a little bit, and of course there\u2019s my fellow \u201cLiner\u201d Gene Grant<\/a>. Jefferey Gardner\u2019s<\/a> perspective is always worth a read (even though I don\u2019t agree with him about David Iglesias, but that\u2019s OK). In a nutshell, while the editorial section of the Tribune has focused like a laser beam on Dubya\u2019s head, the newspaper\u2019s local columnists offer something much less expected.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The loss of competition will be felt<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But I don\u2019t mean to sound like I\u2019m writing an obituary.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Has somebody died?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I was reminded by one of my most media-savy QBs (that stands for quarterback, in case you\u2019re a new reader and don\u2019t remember it from the olden days) yesterday that this is, sadly, the marking of an end of an era.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

How many afternoon papers around the country have survived the onslaught of internet news? Who has time to read a print newspaper after work, especially after reading breaking news all day on the internet?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Fewer and fewer, obviously.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Tribune\u2019s impending exit is just the latest casualty in the global news war. And while some conservatives may be smiling and grateful that the left-wing propaganda machine may be seeing its last days, most recognize that the Tribune\u2019s contribution to community, government, and democracy in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> was valuable and, in many ways, immeasurable.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It will be missed. The loss of competition will be felt. Guaranteed.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I have no doubt that the Tribune\u2019s readership sunk and stayed low, in part, because many, many readers were tired of putting money into a paper that couldn\u2019t get off the Bush-Bashing Bandwagon and could rarely find a redeeming value within the GOP. That aside, afternoon papers are dinosaurs. They\u2019ve seen the asteroid hit and they\u2019re waiting for the cloud.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It is a sad day, I believe. I\u2019m more inclined to pull the drapes and ponder the future of a free media and the role our print journalists will play during this technological transition in an open democracy than I am to do a tap dance on the table.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And who knows, maybe this is all premature speculation. Maybe he Washington Times<\/a> will come in and purchase the paper, giving Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> the opportunity to enjoy a right-sided slant in the evening news for a change.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Now that would be nice. If that happened, I\u2019d celebrate with a glass of bubbly, for sure.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Cheshire<\/st1:city>, AKA the Wednesday Morning Quarterback, is a media relations and campaign consultant in Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. Her column runs every Wednesday. You can learn more about her by clicking here<\/a>. Contact her at wednesdaymorningqb@comcast.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Whitney Cheshire The Albuquerque Tribune looks like it\u2019s gone with the wind: Do we pop open the bubbly or draw the shades and stop the clocks? Yesterday, the Tribune announced that it will be shutting its doors unless an unexpected buyer shows up to purchase the Scripps-owned, afternoon news publication. The Tribune\u2019s circulation has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cheshire-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}