Times Union Irrelevancy

[dmoney]

Interesting article about changing times. Imagine how nice the Northbank Riverwalk could be if the Times Union sold off it's fantastic riverfront property parking lot (slum as it looks now) to someone who would make it attractive and useful. Then, used the money to hire writers who could investigate our corrupt city/church government and write articles about something intelligent...you know, something other than the next Tim Tebow fluff piece.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/realestate/commercial/struggling-newspapers-sell-off-old-headquarters.html?_r=0

[carpnter]

You mean articles about the problems at the Public Defender's office, State Attorney's Office, the dysfunction between the Mayor's office and City Council, and the Mayor attempting to skirt Sunshine Laws with way the pension negotiations were conducted?

[icarus]

I never thought of myself as an English language or English grammar elitist but I honestly can't make it through a single article without fighting the urge to take a red pen to outline the grammatical and spelling errors.

I don't ask much but beyond TU not reporting anything of seeming major significance, I can't get past the fact that I want to read articles written by reporters with a firm grasp of the English language and its proper usage.

[coredumped]

So much hate for the TU. I think it would be sad if they went under. They're adapting the best way they know how - adding a pay wall, videos on their site, etc. Maybe it's not the best journalism in the world (but really, is the new york times?).

It will be a sad day if/when they go under. A city our size should have a newspaper, if we didn't what would that say about us?

[I-10east]

^^^+100

[Gravity]

From a former employee:

2009 - The editor of the business section interrupted a conversation about ebay with "I think they might be on to something"

2010 - Director of Advertising "We really dont know how to sell ads online"

All the time - Editor and Publisher "Our journalism is strong!"

[Cheshire Cat]

Interesting article about changing times. Imagine how nice the Northbank Riverwalk could be if the Times Union sold off it's fantastic riverfront property parking lot (slum as it looks now) to someone who would make it attractive and useful. Then, used the money to hire writers who could investigate our corrupt city/church government and write articles about something intelligent...you know, something other than the next Tim Tebow fluff piece.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/realestate/commercial/struggling-newspapers-sell-off-old-headquarters.html?_r=0

Two posts so far.  The first was to call out Metrojacksonville and claim the site was a bitch fest.  Second post, to bitch about T.U. of course.  lmao   

[FSBA]

I'm honestly shocked the TU is still publishing a daily paper at this point. A neighbor of mine was in charge of maintenance for the printing presses and he got laid off in 2008. Every year I keep waiting for the announcement they're going to only publish 3/4 days a week and then the eventual announcement they're going online only but it hasn't come yet.

[funwithteeth]

I never thought of myself as an English language or English grammar elitist but I honestly can't make it through a single article without fighting the urge to take a red pen to outline the grammatical and spelling errors.

I don't ask much but beyond TU not reporting anything of seeming major significance, I can't get past the fact that I want to read articles written by reporters with a firm grasp of the English language and its proper usage.

Copy editors were deemed expendable when it came to budget cuts, alas.

[JaxScriblerians]

You mean articles about the problems at the Public Defender's office, State Attorney's Office, the dysfunction between the Mayor's office and City Council, and the Mayor attempting to skirt Sunshine Laws with way the pension negotiations were conducted?

I agree. The T-U is far, far from being an adequate local paper, but occasionally it surprises you, as with the exposés about Matt Shirk and Steve Wallace. It also has Ron Littlepage and Mark Woods writing for it, two decent columnists. I subscribe because, without an investor, Metro Jacksonville would not be able to fill the void if the T-U were to go out of business.

[icarus]

Well, I don't really think of the TU as journalism.  I'm not even sure that they have very many real reporters left.

There is a real lack of perspective on Jacksonville as part of a larger economy or region. And, by that, I of course mean perspective at the TU.

Jacksonville Business Journal or Florida trend are a much better source of business information.

[Gravity]

There is a real lack of perspective on Jacksonville as part of a larger economy or region. And, by that, I of course mean perspective at the TU.

I think the TV stations are as guilty of this as well, so myopic

[KenFSU]

In the meantime, they do have ownership of a hundred and fifty years of unanalyzed jacksonville history and big data.

It's just a shame that it's so poorly curated.

Would sign up to the T-U's premium site in a heartbeat if they had well organized digital archives stretching that far back.

[Uh Duh]

Political issues in Jacksonville are often cyclical.  Every decade or so the same issues arise again like zombies from the grave.  The quality of the schools, Downtown development, bridges to no where and public safety issues are but a few.  The TU and the Jacksonville Journal reported on and documented the opinions of the day and often offered potential solutions on the editorial pages.  Having this wealth of information available in a digital format could add to the efficiency and effectiveness of our local government by avoiding the same pitfalls and well intentioned programs from the past. 

[WmNussbaum]

I'm not a big T-U fan but have re-subscribed lately - something about newsprint in my hands in the morning on the throne. Yes, it is a shadow of its former self, but that had to be inevitable. With the demise of classified advertising due to competition from the internet and the housing debacle, its revenue stream has to have taken a massive hit.

I wish it would quit filling up pages with huge pictures and give us more copy, but, like so many other things in our brave new world, it's a money issue. Copy requires reporters, editors, printers, etc, and it all costs money.

The internet news sources do little, in my opinion, to create the kind of atmosphere that the newspapers did a half century ago. Just look at the stories they rant about: low class criminal activity, celebrity BS, sports minutiae; and, just today, the baptism of a kid in England. I mean do we really need to read about all this crapola? One of the local TV stations had posted a story under the category "We Recommend" about a woman who stabbed her boyfriend in the eye because he wouldn't participate in a menage a trios with her and another women. Give me a break!! Recommend? Why? To whom? I'll take the T-U over that in a heartbeat.