[Imc] Re: did anyone hear the octopus report on WILL today?

[editor at 8am.com]

As someone who has had more than a little involvement with the paper -- and 
its several predecessors over the last 20+ years, I wouldn't be too quick 
to blame corporate mismanagement for the problems.  I wouldn't blame the 
community (entirely) either.  The community has wanted an alternative to 
the News-Gazette ever since the Courier folded in the late 
1970s.   Curiously, both The Weekly and The Octopus tried to get Indiana 
investors to make themselves a bigger enterprise -- and both stumbled 
fatally in the process.

If I had to lay primary blame, I'd most likely cast my eyes in the 
direction of the only daily newspaper in the area.  When the Courier 
folded, the competition wrote an editorial claiming that "the best paper 
won."  A real newspaper would have lamented the loss of multiple voices in 
the area and the subsequent lessening of perspectives.  As everyone knows, 
the Gazette is not entirely tolerant of differing opinions.

The Gazette is very competitive.  When the Weekly began, the Gazette 
quickly came out with their own weekly "magazine" style arts paper which 
has evolved into the current "etc." section on Friday.  I think Paul Wood's 
article about the Gazette's problems (and I have known Paul for many years 
and worked with him at the D.I. back in college days) contributed to the 
diminishing morale at the Octopus and will further encourage its demise.

One may not like to acknowledge it, but another problem is perhaps a lack 
of tolerance on the other end of the political spectrum.  The community 
that would most stand to benefit from an alternative publication in this 
area might well be one that also does not like to hear opinions that differ 
from its own.   I say this with some trepidation.

In the meantime, I'm planning to continue to distribute essays and reviews 
on the 8am.com mailing list.  In the way that IMC is able to distribute 
news (and new perspectives on the news) via its website, I hope that 8am 
will be a conduit for arts and essay-length opinion.  I hope that this may 
become a cooperative effort with IMC.  I'd welcome your thoughts and 
encourage you to check out the website at 8am.com and certainly to 
subscribe to the mailing list.

Greg Springer


At 05:59 PM 4/18/01 -0700, Paul Riismandel wrote:
>At 05:44 PM 4/18/2001 -0500, Mike Lehman wrote:
>>It was also mentioned on reason for the Octopus' trioubles is that the
>>area is more conservative than a lot of places, but still diverse. I'm
>>not sure how much of an excuse that is. My conservative parents always
>>seem to have a copy of the Bloomington, IN paper that the same company
>>puts out whenever I go home to visit.
>>Mike Lehman
>
>Sounds like BS to me.  Yesse's other papers are in Springfield, IL, 
>Dayton, OH, Iowa City (now shut down), Bloomington IN and 
>Indianapolis.  Of those, which one seems less conservative than 
>C-U?  Maybe Iowa City is a little more liberal, but none of the others, at 
>least according to my perceptions.
>
>Sounds like a good excuse to mask corporate mismanagement, though.
>
>--Paul
>
>
>>Danielle Chynoweth wrote:
>> >
>> > WILL interviewed Jenny Southlynn today about the Octopus.  We're trying to
>> > find people who heard it and could give a brief report.
>> >
>> > If you heard it, please contact Walter Matherly who is following the
>> > demise of the Octopus (filed for bankruptcy recently) closely for the IMC.
>> >
>> > Walter matherly
>> > 239-5338
>> > matherly at prairienet.org
>>
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