But instead of improving their product by deploying technology bloggers can't afford (yet), newspapers are devolving. Many are cutting staff. Daily newspapers are growing smaller and uglier, with no paper looking anywhere near as lovely as Joseph Pulitzer's New York World from the late 1800s. Comic strips have gotten so tiny you need a magnifying glass to read them. I'm fine with newspapers cutting back on stock tables, but they aren't adding something new to the package. Most newspapers claim they've shrunk their dimensions to combat steep increases in newsprint prices, but that's a lie.The Sunday Times is an honest to goodness thing of beauty. The color, the layout, everything aesthetic is astounding. And it keeps getting better.
But honestly: if this is where so many of the clicks are diverting toward, it seems clear that a media outlet's profitability has less than jack all to do with aesthetics. Butt ugly will do just fine, thanks.
