Certain Habits

The Detroit Free Press is throwing in the towel and consigning itself to irrelevance. And it doesn’t even realize it.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the DFP is working hand-in-glove with advertisers, not just to place ads, but to place, edit, and schedule stories to suit their advertisers’ objectives.

DFP editor Anger explains the decision this way:

“One of the things I think newsrooms have to realize,” Mr. Anger says, “is we’re here to cover the news in an unvarnished way, but we’re also here to facilitate commerce.”

So let’s get this straight. The Detroit Free Press was never one of the nation’s best newspapers. But, like most local newspapers, they could justify their existence by providing strong local coverage, independent, presumably unbiased reporting and an editorial perspective that helps its readers understand what news is important, and why.

Let’s compare the new Free Press with the blogosphere as a whole:

• Intelligent editorial: The blogosphere wins handily. Do you expect people with journalism degrees to best articulate experts writing in their areas of expertise?
• Independence: Target is paying for stories in the Free Press. Blog product reviews are often compromised, and stories are influenced by PR, but to this extent, on average? I don’t think so.
• Diversity of Opinion: While each blog has a distinct point of view, on the whole the blogosphere provides more diverse opinion than the average reporter, 95% of whom are Democrats.
• Reporting: Give an edge, for a little while longer, to newspapers, like the Free Press. But with Twitter updates, real-time search, and increasily aggressive local blogs and callow reporters, that edge may be gone in teh coming year.