Poynter Online
Go


Top Story

Public TV, Radio Stations to Increase Local Investigative Coverage
Most Recent Articles
1.Poynter's Times Publishing Co. sells Governing
5:15 PM Nov. 20, 2009
2.Recommendation for Fewer PAP Screens Sure to Set Off Controversy
10:32 AM Nov. 20, 2009
3.Gene Patterson to Jack Nelson: Save Us a Desk Up There in That Celestial Newsroom
7:03 AM Nov. 20, 2009
4.Public TV, Radio Stations to Increase Local Investigative Coverage
6:19 AM Nov. 20, 2009
5.Woods: Plagiarism Never Justified
3:47 PM Nov. 19, 2009
Most E-mailed
Recent Comments
Recent Tags
Community Activity

Poynter Training
Poynter Seminars
Small, in-person training experiences.
1.
A New Curriculum for a New Journalism - Jan. 6-8, 2010
Apply by November 23
2.
Multimedia Journalism for College Educators - February 1-5, 2010
Apply by December 14
3.
NewsU: Write Your Heart Out: The Craft of the Personal Essay - January 25-February 19, 2010
Apply by January 4
News University
Today's most popular courses on NewsU, Poynter's e-learning site for journalists.
Webinars
Our online classroom is just a click away. Learn more.
All Webinars

Poynter Forums

View Forum Post

Topic: Miscellaneous items
Date/Time: 7/8/2008 11:16:09 AM
Title: A plea to save classical music critics' jobs
Posted By: Jim Romenesko
 
The Music Critics Association of North America sent this letter to several newspapers

Although the members of our organization understand all too well the severe pressures felt by newspapers today, we are nonetheless dismayed by the number of cases in which classical music critics have been removed from the payroll as a result of cost-saving measures. These include the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Seattle Times and, most recently, Kansas City Star (affecting one of our board members) and Miami Herald. It is hard to understand such decisions, even in the current economic downturn, considering the vibrancy of the classical music scene in those cities, not to mention the history and stature of those publications.

There is hardly a newspaper in the country today that hasn’t declared, as part of its self-preservation strategy, a determination to be considered the primary, most valued source of local news about the community. Makers and lovers of classical music are obviously as much a part of the local scene as anyone else within a newspaper’s reach. At any orchestral concert, opera production, chamber music and recital program, you will find the very people a newspaper must still surely want to retain –- subscribers. That those attending classical music events also invariably include influential movers and shakers from the city’s political, financial and social circles ought to help fuel a newspaper’s interest in staying connected to them.

Music lovers may read a variety of things, in print or online, but they invariably put a value on coverage of their local organizations in their local daily press. And they appreciate the opportunity to read, on a regular basis, the words of an informed staff critic. Critics -- not just classical music critics, of course -- play an essential role in the artistic process, which involves an ongoing cycle of creation and reaction. But they typically do much more than write reviews. They produce a steady flow of feature stories and hard news, trend pieces, analyses and more (it's strange that so many newspapers, necessarily focused on the financial side of the business, don't seem to recognize that critics represent good value for money). They also serve, in effect, as consumer guides, helping people make decisions about how they spend or donate their money. Only a local paper can provide this benefit. And employing a staff critic sends a strong, clear message that the local paper recognizes the true value and newsworthiness of classical music in the community.

Many music (and other arts) groups are steady advertisers, of course. That factor, in these days of frugal bottom lines, should also command some degree of respect and attention from any newspaper. Eliminating or downgrading coverage of the work being done by those advertisers might viewed as a myopic policy.

What happens culturally says as much about a community as what happens in sports, government and business. Having writers on staff qualified to report and comment on local classical musical activity -- and the other arts -- should be as important as having good reporters cover athletic events or town hall meetings. Critics are among the writers who help to give a newspaper its personality, its value and, we would argue, its soul.

Given the number of people in a newspaper's community who are involved, one way or another, in classical music, and given the positive impact of that art form on any city's economy and national image, there is ample reason to have a knowledgeable, engaging critic on staff writing about the subject. Newspapers who have sent their classical music critics packing should reconsider; newspapers eying further cuts should resist this lamentable and counterproductive trend.

The Board of Directors
Music Critics Association of North America

View Complete Forum Topic

Username
Password
New User? Signup Now
Poynter Careers
See All Jobs
Add Your Resume
Post Your Job
Become a Member
More media jobs