The medium is the message

A couple of Chicago area music reviewers had a chat with Reveille about "the biz"... here's an excerpt... you may wish to read it all... its, uh, inneressing!!!

Reveille: There’s been a lot of press lately about film critics getting laid off from their papers. You have reviewers from Village Voice, Newsweek, and Newsday losing their jobs as print publications lose money because advertisers are moving online. Is the same trend affecting music critics?

Derogatis: Newspapers and other print media aren’t doing well. It’s not pretty at the New York Times; it’s not pretty at the Gary, Ind., Tribune. But there’s always a local element to music coverage. Jesus, if you’re in Omaha, in Saddle Creek, there’s a big music scene worth covering. Whereas, with movies, you can just pick a review up off the AP wire, and it’s basically the same everywhere.

Kot: One thing newspapers are discovering too late is that cultural coverage is important to readers. Since I started writing, there’s been a complete reversal in attitudes toward entertainment versus so-called "serious" writing. A lot more attention is being paid to the writers covering what’s happening in your back yard. It’s Journalism 101: If you cover your own back yard well, you’ll be fine.