os jornais

Tiago Dória comments on the sterile debate about print versus electronic media in the US. Against the commonsense belief that the death of newspapers means the demise of journalism, Dória reminds us that

o que está morrendo nestes países é o jornal impresso, ou melhor, o uso do jornal-papel como suporte/dispositivo para entrega das informações, e não o jornalismo em si.

[what's dying in these countries is the print newspaper, or better, the use of the print newspaper as a support/apparatus for delivering information, and not journalism in itself.]

These lamentations, she also points out, are often predicated on a false premise: that newspapers were once primarily moneymakers. On the contrary,

Jornais impressos nunca foram máquinas de fazer dinheiro, mas uma forma de ganhar poder e influência. Quem comprou jornal para ganhar dinheiro quebrou a cara. Portanto, culpar a internet é esquecer o passado. Ela não foi a causadora dessa crise, mas pode ser o ponto final. Essa crise é mais resultado de anos de má administração (falta de investimento em pesquisa e inovação) e efeito de um negócio que nunca foi muito lucrativo mesmo.

[Print journals were never machines for making money, but rather a form of gaining power and influence. Whoever got into newspapers for the money went broke. Thus to blame the internet is to forget the past. It wasn't the source of this crisis, although it might be the endpoint. This crisis is more the result of years of bad administration (lack of investment in search technology and innovation) and the effect of a business that was never really very lucrative.]

Forgive my translations, as my Portuguese is far from perfect. The original link was through Idelber Avelar.