Always. Be. Closing. Newspapers. -- UPDATE

                         
Consider this exchange between Aaronow and Moss from David Mamet's "Glengarry Glan Ross" (1984):


                         MOSS
It's not right.


                         AARONOW
            It's not.

                         MOSS
            No.

Pause.

                         AARONOW
            And it's not right to the customers.

                         MOSS
            I know it's not.  I'll tell you,
            you got, you know, you got...what
            did I learn as a kid on Western?
            Don't sell a guy one car.  Sell him
            five cars over fifteen years.

                         AARONOW
            That's right?

                         MOSS
            Eh...?

                         AARONOW
            That's right?

                         MOSS
            Goddamn right, that's right.  Guys
            come on: "Oh, the blah blah blah, I
            know what I'll do: I'll go in and
            rob everyone blind and go to
            Argentina cause nobody ever thought
            of this before."

                         AARONOW
            ...that's right...

                         MOSS
            Eh?

                         AARONOW
            No.  That's absolutely right.

                         MOSS
            And so they kill the goose.  I, I,
            I'll...and a fuckin' man, worked
            all his life has got to...

                         AARONOW
            ...that's right...

                         MOSS
            ...cower in his boots...


                         AARONOW
                   (simultaneously with "boots")
            Shoes, boots, yes...

                         MOSS
            For some fuckin' "Sell ten thousand
            and you win the steak knives..."

                         AARONOW
            For some sales pro...

                         MOSS
            ...sales promotion, "You lose, then
            we fire your..." No.  It's
            medieval... it's wrong. "Or we're
            going to fire your ass." It's wrong.

                         AARONOW
            Yes.

                         MOSS
            Yes, it is.  And you know who's
            responsible?

                         AARONOW
            Who?

                         MOSS
            You know who it is.  It's Mitch.
            And Murray.  'Cause it doesn't have
            to be this way.

And then go check out Athenae's report on the death of journalism:

I do not get it anymore. I used to think this was just about money, and while newspapers make money they don't make ENOUGH money, but what's happening to the Times-Pic is destroying something that made unexpected amounts of money last year, so someone please explain to me why you'd want to mess with that.

over at First Draft.


It does not have to be this way.


And yet, somehow, it is.






UPDATE:  Given commenter Rock Dots' superior alternative, I simply had to change the title of this post.