Anyone else remember “The Big Peach”? What a shame that the Register is now a shell of its former self. Marc Hansen and Randy Peterson had an avid reader back then. Times have changed though from when you had to fight to be the first to get to see the sports page in my house on Sunday morning.

Ah’, the Big Peach. I had forgotten until Capt A reminded me.

Sometimes the mighty trip and sometimes they fall. The Register has fallen to the point of being unrecognizable.

My brother once owned a Chevy Malibu, early 1970′s edition. That thing was mean and nasty and awesome. Chevy still makes a Malibu, but except for the name, you wouldn’t recognize it.

Change isn’t always good. Example A – Chevy Malibu. Example B – DSM Register.

I used to have the Register mailed to me back in the “Big Peach” days. No more. For what it’s worth, Gannett has also made a mess of the Arizona Republic, where they also got layoff notices yesterday.

When Walter Cronkite retired, we found out he was a liberal. Before that, we had no clue where he fell on the political spectrum, because he was a professional, and a man of integrity. That is missing today, and I believe it is a contributing factor to the decline of the newspaper, perhaps as much as the internet. Unfortunately, the sports page is forced to go along for the ride.

Gannett should know it can’t keep cutting content providers and expect people to continue paying for that content. I’m glad you pointed out the media companies that are investing in reporting and not just executive multimillion dollar salaries.

Mike, if news organizations all become parts of “media profit centers,” who is going to do the public-service work of investigative reporting? I shudder at the prospect of for-profit reporting, and we are seeing the implications right now: shallow celebrity-focused news, with dash of “it if bleeds, it leads.”

Edward R. Murrow was an early victim of the bottom line for his expose of Joseph McCarthy. The man must be twirling in his grave contemplating the current state of American corporate “journalism.”

Even though I haven’t regularly read the Des Moines Register since my college days (back when hard copies of newspapers were still found in college libraries), this piece and its implications for the whole of print journalism sickens me.

I remember the Register when I was growing up in CR. It was a fascinating paper to read, but many folks thought it should be printed on pink paper because of it’s stand on many things. I do miss both it and the Gazette, though. Where I now live there is only one ‘local’ paper and so we buy NYC papers to get a broader view of what’s going on in the world.

I think it was President Jimmy Carter who once said he made a point of trying to read four newspapers every morning – the New York Times, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times and the Register – just to try to keep his finger on the pulse of the nation. I, too, grew up with the Big Peach and the Register’s demise is, indeed, sad. I apologize to all my old co-workers, but so too is the Gazette’s. Iowa use to have some outstanding newspapers.
Keep plugging away, brother.

Remember the sequential photos of an Iowa touchdown, shot from the press box, with players identified in little boxes next to their images on the field? Larry Lawrence to Ed Podolak for the score …. Very cool and old school. And, how about Donald Kaul? I’ve stolen his bits and jokes which, plagiarism, is the highest compliment one comedian can pay another.

As one who lived in central and western Iowa, when I went to Iowa City for college, I really only knew one newspaper–the Register. Over the years when I returned for a visit, the Register seemed to get thinner. Somewhere along the way, I discovered the Gazette online, became a fan and just got settled in when they started charging to log on. So, away I went for awhile, until I decided to take a look again a few years ago. Glad I did. Last time I was back home, I looked at a Register and was amazed by how little there was to it. I had heard the Gannett did a number on it but had no idea it was that bad.

As one who lives far away, I’ll support this paper, to the extent it helps, by checking in most days and giving an occasional comment here and there. I enjoy coming in , and hope The Gazette can hold the line. As Murrow said, Good Night and Good Luck.

I’m not surprised about the demise of the register….for a leading news paper in a leading agriculture state….they were sure anti agriculture….I quit reading them years ago….they also had 1-2 full pages of heavy duty truck advertisements and about 4-5pages of farm machinery ads…..it seemed like they priced them selves out of the picture….

Mike, I want to affirm what you guys are doing with the new-media stuff. I grew up in Iowa City so it was all Press-Citizen for me, with a little Des Moines Register. The Gazette was an afterthought. But since I’ve moved out of state, and have to rely on web-content for my Hawkeye news, you guys stand above the rest due to your blogs, webcasts, chats, and podcasts. Sorry I can’t add to your subscriber numbers, but I give you several page views a day.

Glass House Syndrome

Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day. Thomas Jefferson

Interesting how a man of the enlightenment can be so very spot on and yet….
I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it. Thomas Jefferson.
News and newspapers have always been the basis of our democracy, when they get crappy, our democracy gets even worse, and those of the conservative mind set tend to see that as a positive. The less we know, the better, as far as they are concerned. Hence, “if it bleeds it leads.” Yellow journalism is alive and well, hopefully we will find a change from it once again and papers will go out on a limb for their circulation, do the investigative reporting and create the interest in a public forum to demand the answers from those responsible. We need the news, even if it hurts; when major disasters happen that affect the entire world, that story should not be buried after a couple of weeks! Japan’s nuclear disaster, for example, is continuing to pump radioactivity of all sorts into the atmosphere and it appears not to matter, how disgusting! Who are the news media serving by not doing their job? When you have the answer, you will know how far removed democracy has gotten from the people in this country. Newspapers are part of that equation.

Mike, One of the best articles you have written. It is sad to see the Register and also the Gazette go down hill but it is a sign of the times. I haven’t purchased a Gazette or Register in years and obtain all of my news via the internet. The Gazette’s website is great for keeping up with local news and the Hawkeyes.

Sad to say that the days of a cup of coffee and the Sunday paper are gone. Again thanks for the great article.

Because of the Internet, more people are reading newspapers. Unfortunately, it takes 22 online readers to produce the same revenue as one print reader. Newspaper executives haven’t figured out a way to make money in the digital age, and great writers like Keeler and Meisner are told to take a hike. Not only do they suffer as individuals, we the people lose out as well.