Connecticut bloggers have been pondering their status and the future, as shown by a recent posting on CT Local Politics (Where are We Going - http://ctlocalpolitics.net/2009/05/01/where-are-we-going/#comments). Heath posts graphs demonstrating the frequency of visitors to the three main political blogs (not counting those contributions of the area newspapers) My Left Nutmeg, The Everyday Republican and CT Local Politics over the last year. It’s an interesting exercise and shows the republicans suffering from a lack of following, which is not all that surprising given the political makeup of the state.
What’s more interesting to me, and I am sure is on the minds of these bloggers as well, is the realization by Connecticut’s daily papers that the public is getting its news, particularly its political news, from the web. Last year I made it a daily habit to count the number of pages that made up the Hartford Courant. As it got to 30 pages per edition, it became abundantly clear that Connecticut’s Capitol paper would not survive in its current format. If you want to get political news, you read the blogs, and that includes those like Capitol Watch, and those by Rick Green, Ted Mann, Ken Dixon and Brian Lockhart.
Everyone is talking about the demise of the daily paper so I’m not saying anything new. The Journal Inquirer’s recent move to subscription only for web news is one model but I don’t think it will ultimately work well for them. They’ve got great political coverage but unless, you live in Manchester, you probably don’t want to pay for it. Connecticut’s “we fear change” attitude is backing these papers into a corner that will eventually find them without readers.
