The news media have only one asset of any value: credibility. When the NY Times and The Chicago Tribune knowingly slanted their news by employing 90% liberal leaning reporters, editors and managers, they tainted their product as much as someone putting vinegar in the wine. And the market has an answer for such shoddy products:

New York Times Co. (NYT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), McClatchy Co. (MNI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Tribune Co. (TRB.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday posted sharply lower quarterly earnings on high newsprint costs and depressed advertising sales.

The results from the three large publishers underscored the troubles faced by the industry, including circulation declines, high costs and competition for advertising money from the Internet and other new media.

Why is circulation down? Well, only a third of the country is democrat. The liberal media insults those who disagree with their world view and represent conservatism as a negative. Who wants to buy a newspaper that insults instead of informs? A drop in readership is all it takes to reduce advertizing revenue, which cannot cover costs. The internet and blogosphere do not have the resources to gather news like a NY Times or CNN. What we do in competing with the antiuque media is we widen the perspective on what the news might mean by looking outside the narrow view of liberalism.

Liberalism defines limits on financial assistance as cruel and uncaring, driven by greed. Conservatism defines these limits as a way to say we here to help you back on your feet, not to allow you to prop your feet up in front of the TV while everyone else works. No one would restrict aid to the impaired among us who cannot be self sufficient. That simple, well rounded description on how to describe something COMPLETELY is gone from the anitque media.

Look at the NSA-FISA story for example. The NY Times leaked critical national security information which is protecting us from a second 9-11, and then got the story all wrong! Not only did the NSA leads go to FISA, it was some FISA judges pining for a return to the disasterous Gorelick wall that refused to follow leads regarding possible attacks in the US if they came from the NSA! So the story about NSA bypassing FISA is 100% WRONG! One thing people like less than being insulted, is being fed lies or errors and risking lives in the process.

The antique media, with Dan Rather still fantasizing about ‘fake but accurate’ destroyed the only asset they had, their credibility. The stock owners of these corporations should be outraged at the fiduciary irresponsibility shown by these companies when it has been clear for over a decade now they biased their reporting staff and made aggregious errors time after time. Abhu Graib, GITMO, Wilson-Plame, NSA, the Florida recount, hurricane Katrina…

The list of world class mistakes from organizations that exist on one thing – credibility – is stunning. So they insulted two thirds of their readers and plied the rest with fact challenged stories. And they wonder why no one wants to buy their product???

It is clear this was, in the end, a completely bankrupt strategy for running a national news media outlet.