Did he write any other type of article besides ones that bash Tmac? That's the only type of Fran article that gets posted here.
If you didn't see the problems with McGrady long before the microfracture ordeal then I doubt Fran Blinebury or anyone here can help you.
I disagree. I quite like Justice's sarcastic/comical take on everything. He gives his opinion in an entertaining way. Solomon is a bit of a waste of space though, but so was Fran. People losing their job sucks, but Fran has been doing articles for NBA.com so his exposure's pretty high, thus he'll likely land somewhere.
The Internet has killed the newspaper. We're just seeing the tip of the iceberg now. Major newspapers have recent folded up in Denver and Seattle and many others are reducing staff, printing fewer pages, and even shrinking the *size* of the pages. Within 2-3 years, some half of the major newspapers in the country will have folded and in 5 years, there will probably be only a handful left. Some will keep online editions, but not all. Craigslist has taken a HUGE chunk out of revenue by replacing the classified ad with a free version that works better. Job sites like Monster.com took another big bite. And more people turn to the web for news on current events, politics, sports, entertainment, etc. The Internet has changed the way information is delivered to people, and the printed newspaper is going to be the biggest casualty.
I enjoyed his work. It was refreshing instead of the usual homerism, sugar-coated bs from the other writers. I appreciated his honesty.
I hate having this discussion in the GARM, but I can't help it because this attitude is just so bizarre. Where do you think people turn to on this magical "web" for news on current events, politics, sports, entertainment, etc.? A large chunk of it is newspapers! Even if it's not the chron.com Web site itself, then it's blogs or message boards (including this one, although of course Clutch does individual reporting himself as well) that link to it! It baffles me the attitudes I run across every day -- "oh, I don't need newspapers, I have Drudge! Deadspin!" etc., etc. These are not reporters. For the most part, they don't find information on their own. They link you to other information done largely by newspaper reporters (as well as the AP, whose fate is largely correlated with newspapers since newspaper subscribers are who pay their bills). I don't disagree that newspapers are dying, because they are. What I disagree with is this absolutely absurd mentality that "we don't need them, we have the INTERWEBZ!!!!" People talk about all the numerous news Web sites available, but the reality is that most of them are one- or two-man portal operations simply linking you to other people's reporting. When newspapers die, there's going to be a huge dropoff in local news coverage online, and most people don't even realize it. It's sad. Maybe you think ESPN is perfectly capable of covering the Rockets, but I don't.
All valid points, Cat. But I never said the Internet would be able to replace the journalism of newspapers. However, the business model that newspapers are built on becomes less and less viable every month. In the short term, journalism will probably suffer until someone figures out a way to publish digitally *and* make enough money to pay for professional reporters. But nobody's going to keep printing newspapers if they're losing money month after month, and that's exactly what's happening. Maybe some of the better papers will go strictly online and charge a small monthly subscription fee or something. Possibly digital readers like the Kindle will become more popular and news organizations will publish a version that way -- it certainly would hold down their costs. But for a while, we'll probably get crappier overall coverage of news until someone finds the answer.
Yeah, I'll agree with that. You're definitely right that people turning to the Web for news, and of course the other online advertising platforms such as CL, is what killed this business. It's just that lots of people tend to assume they don't need newspapers or that they don't rely on them for news anymore, and it's completely false and very frustrating. That's what I initially thought you were getting at... my bad.
Maybe Fran can write some things for CLutchfans while he is looking for a job. I know as a fan of his I would love it...
Given how much I believe the Chronicle has complained about ClutchFans having any kind of media access, I'd say I doubt that's happening anytime soon.
I don't understand why he got fired. Yes, sometimes his articles sucked but he was pretty good overall.
Newspaper writers are paid on par of starving interns anyways, so hopefully the guy and others like him had something else lined up on the side for a steady stream of revenue, be it blogging or something else. The newspaper business sucks anyways. You really got to be in it for the love of writing or just because you have a big ego and you need everyone to hear what you have to say.
