Conservatives to Blame for Newspaper Failure?

Cal Thomas | Syndicated Columnist | Published: Mar 17, 2009

Conservatives to Blame for Newspaper Failure?


March 18, 2009

My colleague, Kathleen Parker, believes conservatives are partly responsible for the decline in newspaper circulation and the closing of some papers. She’s right.

While conservatives have legitimate issues with the media, the answer is not to hope it fails, but to improve it by supporting those of us laboring in it and encouraging more young people of a conservative and Christian bent to go into journalism and entertainment.

I am having more newspapers cancel my column than at any time in the nearly 25 years I’ve been writing it. Most editors say it isn’t my point of view, but the economy. Fewer people are reading newspapers and so fewer advertisers are paying for ads in them. One man who I had asked to write his paper to spare my column responded by saying he likes me, but hopes they all fail.

This is not the right approach. Shedding light amid darkness is. Subscribe to your local paper. Interact with editors who are more open to your point of view than ever before. Patronize advertisers who do place ads in the paper. A healthy First Amendment protects us all against government. We’re all in this together.


Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.

Conservatives to Blame for Newspaper Failure?