The Collapse of the Written Word

Two extraordinary events occurred that affect how we gain access to information. First, last week the publishing world confessed its financial woes with layoffs, "retirements," and resignations. But the most shocking aspect was the announcement that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt would suspend acquiring new manuscripts. The private equity firm that owns the publishing house said that it wasn't allocating much money to its consumer book division. Why? Education Media and Publishing Group, which owns Houghton, is carrying $7 billion in debt.

No more books? Or are we moving to a time when books will no longer be published on paper? Is this suspension a step towards a new model in book publishing? I'm not so optimistic since too many books are merely crap ghost written by celebrities in order to sell their public personas. Who will want to read George Bush's memoir?

Today came the announcement that the Pulitzer Prizes will accept submissions from online-only news outlets, but will require that in order to be eligible for the prize, these articles have to be "text-based" submissions from news organizations that are updated at least weekly and include original reporting. That sounds like talkingpointsmemo.com and propublica.org will be eligible. That is optimistic, because both are doing some of the best reporting around.

What impact will this announcement have on newspaper publishing when on the same day the Tribune Company, owner of the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune filed for bankruptcy protection?

Of course, both the Times and the Tribune are viable newspapers, or at least might have been. However, the problem lies with the fact that Sam Zell, the real estate magnate who purchased the Tribune Company several years ago in a bidding war, leveraged his real estate, and now has $13 billion in debt that is collapsing his empire. Since Zell recently took the Tribune Company private, the debt amassed quickly at just the same time that his real estate holdings were devaluing and advertising and other revenues sources within the newspaper industry were drying up.

Can we afford to live without newspapers? Will on-line reporting get good enough to supplant newspapers as the primary source of investigative reporting?

This financial crisis hasn't reached bottom yet, that's for sure. What we have to watch out for is the demise of the corporations behind the mainstream media: television, radio chains, newspapers, internet communications. What will we be left with? Not more Fox, I hope.