January 27, 2010

We're Not Doing This To Make Money

San Francisco, 1981:

Money quote: "It takes two hours at $5.00 per hour to get the newspaper, so the online newspaper isn't going to be much competition for the twenty-cent version you can buy on the street." That sentence seems almost as outdated as telling someone who walks into your office that they need to wait because you're on a long-distance telephone call.  The economics look a little different when I can get the whole paper for free in less than two seconds as opposed to having to pay a buck fifty for the Sunday Fish Wrapper after driving forty miles to the nearest actual newstand run by a human being, or even one mile to the nearest vending machine.

Hat tip to Jules Crittenden. (Via.)

4 comments:

zzi said...

"Alito looks so -- small -- compared to Obama."
except that, Citizens United did not disturb any principles that date back 100 years.

Burt Likko said...

1. This post is about the news media and the internet, not the state of the union address.

2. My comment refers to the physical differences between the two men, not their ideology. Obama has at least twelve inches of height on Alito.

3. McCain-Feingold was unconstitutional and the President is wrong to criticize Citizens United. I've never said anything to the contrary and indeed, I recall criticizing Candidate McCain for his sponsorship of this kind of campaign "reform".

zzi said...

then you should have said little, never mind.

Burt Likko said...

In my defense, I offer exhibit A: tequila.