Comments on: Will Local Paper Go Paperless?

By: Western guy

Western guy — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 12:33:04 +0000

Is anyone noticing the major changes in appearance at our local newspaper: different fonts, shaded comic strips, LARGER advertisements, wildly different size of TV sports schedule?

Trying to fill the space? Getting positioned for ‘PDF paper’? It’s coming, very soon.

By: Chickenhawk

Chickenhawk — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 18:46:11 +0000

Bikeboy and David K hit the nail right on the head. Has anyone really watched the pathetic excuse of “news” on any of the major TV networks? They are nothing more than regurgitation of the stuff put out by the PR flacks at the City, County, etc. Anything else is extended “comprehensive” weather forecasts (which are mostly false) and any feel-good happy stuff from their corporate sister stations.

An uninformed public in a free society is dangerous.

By: western guy

western guy — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 00:55:09 +0000

The Statesman’s local stories are 2 days old, minimum, and many are week-old reprints from WaPo, NYT, Spokesman-Review.

By: Daryl Weiss

Daryl Weiss — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 20:23:01 +0000

Some great award-winning journalism there.

“Someone told us that someone told them that they have a letter which they interpreted as a newspaper going out of business.”

And then my favorite line, “Whether true or not, the end is clearly near.”

What????

I think this publication should go out of business.

EDITOR NOTE–Fair enough. The GUARDIAN did confirm receipt of the letter with the retailer. The conclusion about digital only was that of the clerk and reader.

By: TF Boy

TF Boy — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 19:51:15 +0000

It is sad to see the slow death of a venerable paper. I imagine that the failure comes from owners, recent past and present. Then the Idaho Press hired several top reporters and drove a nail in the Statesman. Now the reporting is weak and a day old. I still take it in digital format but read it less and less. This Times News and Idaho Press report the news timely and far more comprehensibly.

By: Tom Knappenberger

Tom Knappenberger — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 17:59:18 +0000

As someone who worked 10 years at The Statesman —Nampa bureau rat, city hall reporter, editorial writer and city editor — I mourn this imminent passing. Many, many memories. Times change.
I like to say that newspapers are like breweries: There used to be many in every town, then few. Now with micro-brewing and the internet, anyone can be a brew master or news purveyor. Though not usually a good one.

By: Jo Jo

Jo Jo — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 14:42:27 +0000

Private equity and/or the demand for profits strikes again, right? Not everything needs to be excessively profitable, and not everything needs to be parted out and bled out for dollars. A “modern” newspaper represents, ideally, an impartial source for facts that I cannot personally gather. I don’t have the time and energy to attend school board meetings, ACHD meetings, Ada County meetings, Boise City meetings, the Legislature, and so on and so forth.
Obviously there are two problems here: making sure the information provided is factual, and making sure the information provided is useful. I gave up on the Statesman because its corporate owners have reduced the value to me–there just isn’t enough latitude or column inches (or bodies!) provided to make it worth the money. And this makes me very, very sad. Certainly there is a need for wire service stories for things that the public needs to be informed of, but I can get those anywhere. Fill me up with the local stuff!
I hope the Idaho Press (I’m old enough I still want to call it the Nampa Free Press and Caldwell Tribune) keeps making a go of it. When I look at the talent they’ve brought in, and their apparent commitment to journalism over increased profits, I’m excited.
Also, a serious shoutout to forums like this one, BoiseDev.com, and similar that are helping fill the gaps. Good work guys!

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 13:33:55 +0000

One might say we haven’t had a statesman in Idaho since Frank Church!

By: David Klinger

David Klinger — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 17:44:01 +0000

I used to believe we were in an over-information age. Then I believed we were in a dis-information age. Now I believe we are entering a non-information age. Boise is potentially losing our principal daily newspapers that perform a vital, watchdog function on government. Our “alternative weekly” does little more than review movies and the latest fish taco food carts. Local TV news has mostly become “happy talk”, covering the latest “walk-a-thon” or charity drive, and helping us “feel good about ourselves”. And “bloggers” (such as they are) don’t typically show up at meetings of the planning commission or school board for the hard, unbiased, factual reporting. Investigative reporting has become a lost art. Now (as witnessed at January’s “housing bonus ordinance” hearing of the Boise City Council) future zoning actions governed by this sweeping new change mostly won’t require public hearings; they’ll just be approved in-house, by staff, outside of the glare of public scrutiny and monitoring. Increasingly, in this new, non-information age we are entering, the public’s business will be done in private. That’s when the problems, the deal-making, and the malfeasance will accelerate … and we, as ordinary citizens, won’t even know about it. “The truth will set you free” will be just a vestige of that pre-Internet era when we actually knew more about what was happening in our community than today, when we know far less.

By: western guy

western guy — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 13:50:52 +0000

Statesman’s new USPS address is at a retail mailbox store on Overland Road near Five Mile.

Buh Bye…