Other Columns by Paul M. Weyrich
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Last week Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) was asked at a pro-family coalition meeting to explain the political conduct of some Senate colleagues. While Santorum responded that he did not know what motivated some Senators, he explained some of them still rely on the New York Times and Washington Post for approval. When those newspapers criticize Senators as they often criticize Senator Santorum, some colleagues vowed not to state their views on "dreaded" social issues lest they receive the same treatment.

I repeated those comments to House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), who was my seat mate at the tribute to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) last week in Washington. Rep. Blunt thought the problem frequently was generational. Some of Blunt's younger colleagues haven't used the media well. The important question is how to reach people.

I wish I could show every Member of Congress, at least the conservatives, two documents. The first is the official audit of newspaper circulation. This audit is important to newspapers because it tells advertisers how many people subscribe to and receive newspapers. Many newspapers also have added those who read an article or two from the newspapers' websites. That is why online readers fill out a form requesting much information in order to register and read a single article of interest. The newspapers want to show potential advertisers both the official audit and the number of people using their websites. Guess what? Despite posting their news on the Internet, newspapers consistently are losing circulation year after year.

There will come a time when it simply will not be economical to operate a newspaper. It will be the same for the ratings book of the television networks. The rating books, published quarterly by the major networks, are losing their news audiences. Fewer and fewer people watch the news. Some former viewers have switched to the cable news channels such as Fox News Channel which is the fastest growing of the five news and news/talk channels. It is becoming clear that the days of big budget network news with correspondents reporting from all over the world and well-known anchormen managing the news coverage are over. If the trend isn't stopped soon there will be no newscasts on the major networks.

People have not stopped watching television but they have stopped watching the news on network television. What are they doing? Many are listening to talk radio where they usually hear network radio news on the hour and important news explained by talk show hosts. Others, including myself, have turned to the Internet. I can get news any time of the day or night on the Internet. I am interested in pursuing a specific topic I search the Google website and find more than I can possibly digest. Some folks have programmed their computers to receive daily commentary on immigration or Iraq or abortion or other issues of interest. I don't know how many people read only Internet news and commentary sites but there are millions of Americans who might. These folks no longer schedule their dinner hour around NBC Nightly News. (Tom Brokaw knew when to retire from NBC Nightly News while he was still at the top of his game.)

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