I won’t bore you with another of my tales of woe, but I can relate to this one. The Philadelphia Inquirer, formerly owned by Knight-Ridder, is whacking the media column written by Gail Shister and directing her toward more “pop culture television features”. This can’t be seen as anything other than, A. Some kind of vendetta-driven ploy to get Shister to leave out of exasperation, or B. Further proof that the modern newspaper model has no tolerance for actual news about the news/entertainment industry.
Was I once told, “No one cares about all that CNN stuff you write about.” Yes. Did I once ask, sarcastically, if they’d rather I write about, “The twelve hottest kisses on MTV?” Uh-huh. Did in fact my bosses respond to that last one with an enthusiastic, lip-smacking, “Yeeesssssss!!!!!” Yup, again.
But was I ever as good a reporter as Gail Shister? No way. Gail is a battering ram. No one eludes her. If you gathered parts to assemble the best possible media industry reporter you end up with Gail. Every national anchor knows her by her first name and, in my judgment, respects her. Which is different from “liking” her, may I remind you.
But almost every second-tier and lower paper is stepping back from serious coverage of modern electronic media. This despite what I was always told that readers showed high interest in the goings on at local TV stations and elsewhere. For reader research purposes, TV coverage is often lumped under “gossip”, which is then interchangeable with nattery celebrities, Paris Hilton and Tom Cruise, none of which is under-covered everywhere else.
My guess is Shister will soon get a call from some “Gawker” like site. My curiosity will be if the Inquirer does the ethical thing and offers her a buy-out.
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