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False ProfitsWhen bad financial news for newspapers is good news for journalism.

By Jack ShaferPosted Friday, Feb. 23, 2007, at 6:10 PM ET

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Meyer offers in his afterword that quality journalism will still be economically feasible, it just won't be as profitable because the industry has lost its monopoly. "The real problem is adjusting to profit levels that are normal for competitive markets," he writes. Embattled newspapers that give up on quality in pursuit of traditionally high profits, he predicts, will face disaster.

The Strib and the Philly papers, which no longer answer to Wall Street and whose financial footprints have been right-sized, are perfect petri dishes for Meyer's optimistic newspaper prescriptions.

******

There's nothing better than drafting behind the high-speed machine that is Philip Meyer's mind. Previously, I wrote an item about newsprint prices based on a 1995 piece he wrote for the Columbia Journalism Review. I also relied on him for a piece I wrote about Philip Anschutz. Draft Philip Meyer for president, I say. Who is your candidate? Send e-mail to . (E-mail may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise. Permanent disclosure: Slate is owned by the Washington Post Co., which owns the Washington Post and the Herald in Everett, Wash.)

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Jack Shafer is Slate's editor at large. Follow him on Twitter.
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