'The Art of Editing' - Chapters 1 and 2

In Chapter 1 of "The Art of Editing," the authors focus on the media's changing role in today's society. Much of the discussion focuses on how editors react to these changes, but a lot has to do with the media.

One point I found particularly interesting was on Page 9, where the author admits "given the freedom they have to roam the Web, many consumers will get information wherever they can find it from whatever source." He also says that consumers seem to be all but ignoring brand loyalty and objectivity, which are fair points to make. More and more, it seems, consumers just want to be entertained. That reality helps explain why Web sites such as Facebook are increasingly more popular than most strict news sites. Consumers really don't care if the Detroit Free Press has been "on guard" -- as is its slogan -- for however many years if they can get the same news from their friends' news feeds.

In Chapter 2, the authors lament the fact that younger readers simply aren’t drawn to newspapers the same way older readers are. While that’s not surprising, what was surprising to me was the fact that, from an advertising perspective, that’s such a negative thing. I had always assumed that since older, retired people were those with the most disposable income, the fact that they are the predominant newspaper subscribers was a good thing. But the book points out that readers in their late 20s and early 30s are the most-coveted advertising market because of their likeliness to make big-ticket purchases. If newspapers continue to fail to reach this market, their relevancy will slip away as fast as the older generation does.