Other Columns by Thomas D. Segel
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Traditional or "mainstream" media outlets continue to wither away in the face of never ending charges of liberal bias and attempts to indoctrinate America with the agenda of the left.

As these strong and meaningful changes are taking place opinion writers and pundits search for answers that will explain away the audience abandonment across the entire spectrum of traditional news outlets. Huge audience losses are being logged for network television news. Major newspaper and news magazine publications show significant decline in circulation numbers. Talk radio formats for the counter position to conservative talk have failed.

The only bright light on the news horizon seems to be The Fox News Channel...and it is the latest entry into cable news. Today, while celebrating its tenth year on the air, Fox News rightfully boasts it is the Number One cable news network. According to Glenn Garvin, writing for McClatchy Newspapers it has held this ranking..."for the past 58 months with an audience almost as big as its two main competitors combined. It took Fox News just five years to surpass MSNBC, with its powerful corporate backers, and CNN with its 16 year head start." Garvin goes on to say that Fox News reached the 90 million-subscriber mark faster than any cable channel in history.

Conservatives have continually argued traditional news outlets ranging from print publications to electronic networks are liberal and Democrat leaning. Though this charge is always denied it remains the perception of most conservative thinking people.

When that charge is combined with the political statistics of the country it becomes a powerful mind-set. The United States is almost evenly divided between people with either a liberal or a conservative mentality. If such a large segment of the population views the mainstream media as "being in the enemy camp", their perception automatically becomes their reality. With the birth of talk radio, online publications, conservative news magazines, the growth of cable television and email, a major exodus from traditional news sources was bound to be the outcome for the segment of the population that felt its position in local or world affairs was being underrepresented.

That grand old lady of newspapers, The New York Times, has seen a drop in actual circulation since 1990. Prior to that year it had claimed almost 2 million readers. By the year 2000 circulation had dropped to 1,500,000. Today the Times can only claim a circulation number of 1,126,000.

The number of daily newspapers in America has also plummeted. From 1,745 in 1980, they have dropped to an estimated 1,457 today. This is a decline of more than 17%. More importantly, readers between the ages of 34 and 64, those who are the most engaged in civil society, are abandoning the daily newspaper. Those who study such issues tell us that more than a century ago when newspapers made their public appearance, the appeal was to the masses... the blue-collar workers. Concerned publishers no longer run today's publications. Instead huge corporations make the key decisions. Most of those have been geared toward advertisers instead of working America and community concerns.

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