The McClatchy Co. reported another big drop in monthly revenue today, so naturally the company's conservative critics are having a field day with it.
As some of you out there see it, it's The Bee's liberal slant on things that is at the root of McClatchy's problems. The comments posted with my story on our Web site make that clear once again.
If only it were that simple.
The fact is, all newspapers are struggling, regardless of politics. The economy and the Internet are draining our ad dollars away. If it were all about liberal politics, then there wouldn't have been a bankruptcy filing last week by Tribune Co., whose flagship newspaper the Chicago Tribune is about as conservative as they come (hometown nominee Barack Obama was the first Democratic presidential candidate the Trib has ever endorsed).
If it were all about politics, then A.H. Belo Corp. wouldn't be doing so poorly. (Belo's big paper, the Dallas Morning News, is probably more conservative than the Tribune).
. And so on. I've been hearing from conservative folks about this for years (where are you today, Rich?) and I enjoy the give and take. I doubt I'm going to convince anyone with this post, but I thought I'd try.
In the meantime, thanks for reading.
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