Bob McCarty Writes

The American newspaper industry seems to be following in the footsteps of a book that once appeared on The New York Times Best Sellers list — and for many of the same reasons.

James Frey’s book, “Million Little Pieces,” became an Oprah’s Book Club selection in September 2005 and appeared on The New York Times Best Sellers list a short time later.  Everyone — including his publisher, DoubleDay Books, and Oprah Winfrey — seemed to believe him when he said the book reflected the truth of his life as an alcoholic and drug abuser who overcame his vices.  It wasn’t, however, competition that brought Frey down.  Instead, it was news that his so-called memoir had been fabricated.  Soon, the title of his book became descriptive of his career.

Unlike Frey, who vaulted into the limelight and then vanished within three years, newspapers dominated the American media landscape, alongside their counterparts at the three major television news networks, for decades.  In fact, they were on top of the media world until competition (i.e., cable television and the internet) entered the picture and began to erode the mountaintop of trust upon which they had sat, apparently content.

When people began to access a much-wider variety of news sources and learned that the outlets upon which they had relied for news were no longer deserving of their trust, things began to go downhill for the folks said to have ink in their blood.  Eventually, trust withered.

In a recent column published in the newspaper industry publication, Editor & Publisher, Debra Garcia wrote that U.S. daily newspapers’ consumption of newsprint fell by 1 million tonnes (a.k.a., “metric tons”) during 2008.

Lack of trust leads to fewer newspaper sales.  Fewer sales leads to a reduced demand for newsprint.

So what’s the difference between a million little pieces and a million metric tons.  Trust.