Folks occasionally ask me why I spend so much time covering the newspaper industry. Frankly, I cover it because it isn't willing to cover itself.
Did you read that the Palo Verde Nuclear plant's safety rating was downgraded on Thursday? Of course you did. That little fact was covered in all of the Arizona newspapers and dozens of out-of-state newspapers. That's because newspapers believe it is their job to expose developments in industries that are of interest to Arizonans. Fair enough.
But like cops who refuse to give tickets to other cops, the newspaper industry refuses to cover itself. When the Republic really botches a story are you going to read about it in the Tribune? Of course not. When a Legislator says something silly, a CEO makes a mistake or an industry falters, you read it in the Republic. But when an editorial writer, columnist or reporter makes a monumental error in judgment, you won't hear about it.
Until the bloggers, who would expose the hypocrisy of the news media?
What would happen if Arizona Public Service hired children to read its meters? Do you think that would be a story? Are you kidding me? It would be a series and then it would be a Pulitzer.
How about the fact that the Republic uses children to go door to door selling papers? Is that a story. Of course not. Just ask the Republic's spokesman. Oh, that's right, the Republic doesn't have a spokesman because they never get phone calls from reporters.
Last May, I pointed out that a kid named Benji came to my door with his "adult sponsor" selling Republic subscriptions. I talked to the Publisher about this and he didn't consider it a big deal. The paper hires third party vendors and the vendors use children to sell subscriptions. The practice continues. I received this letter yesterday.
Greg:
Earlier tonight I was enjoying listening to the rain outside while watching a movie on the couch. I then hear someone knocking on my door. No one I know knocks, they just come in. I’m single so I guess that’s acceptable. So I look through the peep hole before answering since it has to be a stranger. I see a shifty-looking guy with and a young elementary school kid. I open the door and I notice the guy has an Arizona Republic badge clipped to his shirt. He asks if I have a few minutes for them to share something with me. I ask what it is about and the guy tells the kid to tell me. The kid gives a mini rehearsed speech about how he’s in school, making good grades, staying off drugs and studying hard or something. He then asks me if I’m interested in subscribing to “The Big Sunday Paper” from the Arizona Republic to support something in the schools that keeps him off of drugs. The kid’s act was nice, but the guy with him looked like a shady salesman who hated his job. I told them I wasn’t interested in it because I read it online. Which I have been doing for years.
You aren't going to read about it in the Republic or the Tribune. So I'll say it here. The door to door subscription trade is a dirty business. Children shouldn't be used as bait to sell papers. I don't care how fast circulation is falling or how many third party vendors the management wants to hide behind. Children shouldn't be used as bait to sell papers.
Here's an interesting New York Times story about young people being recruited to sell magazine subscriptions door to door and then becoming trapped in a life of abuse.
More than two decades after a Senate investigation revealed widespread problems with these itinerant sellers, and despite several highly publicized fatal accidents and violent crimes involving the sales crews in recent years, the industry remains almost entirely unregulated. And while the industry says it has changed, advocates and law enforcement officials say the abuses persist.
I'm not saying that the kids who sell the Republic are living in the same deplorable conditions of fear and abuse that the kids selling Time, Newsweek and Rolling Stone are living in. At least I don't think they are.
No. I think the kids selling the Republic are being dragged around for hours each day by their "adult sponsors." They give their 30 second pitch about staying off drugs and out of gangs over and over so that folks who have no interest in buying a newspaper will subscribe in order not to hurt the kid's feelings. No one is even claiming that the child actually gets paid. The kids earn "points" so they can go to "camp" or have a party at Chuckie Cheese.
Sure, the editorial writers will get all worked up about a power line that might inconvenience a tortoise. They will tell you that the medical care needs to be free for families that make triple the poverty level. They will complain that the schools are inadequate. But ask them about the kids who sell their papers and they will look at their shoes.
That's why I cover the newspaper industry. Maybe someday it will cover itself.
What's the first sign of a corrupt electoral system? Public ballots. You may not like Castro or Lenin, but when you vote in front of the Commissar you mark your X where you are supposed to and make a big smiley face next to it. The ability to vote privately eliminates the political pressure.
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