Community Papers Launch Bitter, Bitter PR Campaign

Print is officially dead. I held out hope longer than most, but I knew it was all over yesterday when this ad appeared at my New York City subway stop:

The art shows the back of a skinny kid negotiating a hospital corridor on crutches. The copy reads: “Football? Nope. Broken sidewalks. Broken sidewalk stories won’t win us a Pulitzer, but they could keep you out of the hospital. Your Community Paper. Told ya.”

This ad perfectly distills the ineptness of the newspaper industry. An unidentified group of managers at community papers pooled their last remaining dollars to hire an advertising agency to build a campaign around the idea of “Nobody loves us, but we told you so.” The money they spent guilt-tripping their readership could have funded coverage said readers actually care about.

That sound you hear is David Simon wailing and rending his garments.