Dinosaur media deathwatch claims another

I remember a children's book titled 'Fortunately'.

The storyline was accompanied by large color illustrations, and the text went something like this: "Fortunately, Tommy got invited to a party...Unfortunately, it was on the other side of the world."

Well, this story goes something like this...

Unfortunately, a newspaper went out of business this week.

Fortunately, it was the Bulletin of Philadelphia.

This incarnation of the Bulletin was a far-right daily broadsheet that took its name from the more respected Philadelphia Bulletin of decades ago. The modern version of the Bulletin - which dissenters called the Bullshitin - began in 2004, riding that year's wave of right-wing totalitarianism.

But the Bulletin reportedly ceased publication on Monday.

We keep hearing how most American cities these days can barely support one daily paper even if it's a fairly moderate voice. So why did the founder of the modern incarnation of the Bulletin think a city could support more than one paper if one was as out of touch as the Bullshitin was?

As with the modern version of the New York Sun, which went out of business late last year, the Bulletin is the odd paper out in the marketplace of ideas. Like the Sun, the Bulletin was a voice of militant conservatism. Also like the Sun, the Bullshitin didn't make it in the marketplace of ideas, because nobody wanted to read bigheaded right-wing propaganda anymore.

Meanwhile, the 'Pail lives on.

I'm surprised the Bulletin didn't demand a bailout before going out of business. That's pretty much what the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was for right-wing talk radio, so why not?