Buy Or Don’t Buy

Last night as I was eating mac & cheese and eagerly awaiting the return of Gossip Girl*, I settled on Jeopardy! for my pre-GG entertainment. Generally I think of Jeopardy! as a great place for Old People commercials. Since the only people still reading actual newspapers are old, this still holds. But in their desperation to minimize layoffs and the threat of going online-only, it appears that the daily papers are attempting to make Jeopardy! a great place for Smart People commercials.

Unfortunately I was unable to find either of the commercials I saw on the Internet, but here’s the gist: One was for the New York Times Weekender, and featured an attractive young clean-cut couple swapping sections on a comfy sofa. It said to me, You, too, could spend your Sunday mornings lounging about in a polo shirt and khakis with an attractive young man who’s interested in more than the Sports section…lure him into your home with the Weekender!

The other was for Politico, a paper that probably no one more than a 6-mile radius from the capitol building reads. This commercial was much more aggressive, using big red all-caps to say things like MOST READ POLITICAL NEWSPAPER EVER and BUY POLITICO OR WE WILL FIND YOU. It said to me, Is 24/7 Fox News not enough for you? You need this publication.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a commercial for a newspaper up until this point. And while I do think it’s kind of silly, I also don’t buy it because it’s just really sad. I mean, seriously? The New York Times needs subscribers so bad it’s reduced to pleading with Jeopardy! viewers? That’s awful.

Of course, I am part of the problem myself. I’ve always hated holding a big, gawky newspaper and flipping through 15 pages just to read the second half of a story I’m not that interested in. But as a former journalism student (and illustrious Assistant News Editor** of the North Penn Knight Crier), it saddens me to see even the titans of the industry in such a terrible state.

Now: Cheer yourself up with a funny video!

* It was a letdown.
** This may or may not have been my actual position. I don’t really remember.