Media blues

During 2005, two rather alarming stories got plenty of column space and air time across the country. Stories with names like "Hollywood box office woes" or "The press is in decline" found their way into American media outlets. With domestic box office receipts down about 5 percent, soothsayers told of a dismal future in which we no longer see movies or read newspapers.\nSuch predictions seemed scary. And would be, if they were true.\nFirst of all, Hollywood execs make their money from the international box office and DVD sales, so slower ticket sales didn't hurt their wallets any. Also, a decline had to be expected after the historic box office year of 2004, which included the unprecedented success of "The Passion of the Christ" and "Fahrenheit 9/11." A drop in sales and revenue during one year hardly indicates a massive sea change in the state of movies. And let's not kid ourselves -- the $8.9 billion Hollywood raked in domestically isn't chump change.\nMeanwhile, newspapers have been declining since the mid-1940s, but that hardly means that people just don't care about news any more. With the expansion of Internet news sources, and the success of networks like Fox, people clearly want to know what's happening in the world. Most of the worry stems from an inability to grab new or young readers\nSo why are these non-stories stories at all? For one thing, the media loves to report about itself. Nothing gets people watching movies and reading papers like bemoaning their decline. Regardless, the appearance of these non-stories stands as a testament to the media's need for self-perpetuation. Neither of these stories address the real problems affecting movies and newspapers. Instead, they weep tears of self-pity, ignoring any actual introspection about making better and more original movies, or writing better and more well-researched articles.\nThe problem, then, isn't that movies are selling fewer tickets, but the movies released weren't that appealing. Even flooding the market with DVDs, which can make up some of the cash, can't fix the crappy quality of movies. No matter what star power supports a movie, if it really, really sucks, it doesn't make money (see: "Fun with Dick and Jane").\nSimilarly, newspapers have found themselves indicted and investigated, while the quality of their reporting failed to prove much more compelling than alternative news sources. If your product isn't better than the competition, you simply can't be surprised when sales are down a bit.\nFears about the disappearance of cinema or the printed word, then, are sorely misplaced. Each is just experiencing a change in medium and format, as well as a general decline in quality. That doesn't mean that newspapers or movies are just going to vanish. It just means that journalists and film industry folks should quit reporting bull plop non-stories to fill space and just do their jobs well. As long as each medium provides a picture of the world worth seeing, we'll pay to take in the view.