By Bob Gibson
Charlottesville political blogger

What in the world is happening to newspapers and television news shows?

They remain valuable and necessary to healthy public debate and the strength of our democracy.

Yet their status on the Monopoly board of life is slipping from Park Place and Boardwalk to Baltic Avenue without passing Go or collecting $200.

My friends in the newspaper business, where I worked for more than 30 years, are watching and wincing as hatchets fall each month or week on the good jobs of good friends.

Advertising and circulation are in the doldrums, or worse. Many papers can take only so many cuts before the ability to cover local and state news suffers so much that the product becomes a pale copy of its former self.

Shrinking daily newspapers are a sad phenomenon matched in somber notes by the slide in wire service coverage and the demise of quality public affairs television programs.

In Norfolk today, one such high quality television program is a week away from death.

The program, On the Record, has a 17-year record of providing Tidewater Virginia with balanced coverage of Virginia political issues.

Democrats and Republicans from around the region have flocked to broadcast journalist Joel Rubin’s show week after week to engage in intelligent discussion of real issues.

Instead of the seven-second sound bites so common on television news, real dialogue and full examination of public policy are the coins of Rubin’s realm.

Why then, is the station that touts On the Record as top quality programming pulling the plug on the show after Dec. 28?

Because, as WVEC program manager Deb Shollenberger wrote me, “The current financial model that we have for the show is no longer viable, and in today’s economic environment WVEC simply can’t afford to air programs that lose money.“

“That being said, we all agree that On the Record is a quality program,“ she continued. “Joel has done a great job with the show over the years, and we remain open to exploring other options with him down the road.“ 

Rubin, who is paid all of $400 a week for the 30-minute public affairs program he hosts, said the station has not tried to find profitable sponsors for the show.

“Management has never challenged its sales department to find sponsors, nor did it tell me they were interested in making a buck off the show until the last couple weeks,“ Rubin said.

No sooner had a Facebook group been formed to preserve such programming than more than 100 people joined to pitch in.

The Facebook group, named “Save public service television programming in Virginia,“ has mobilized support for Rubin’s program across the state.

Mathews County School Board member Jen Little joined the group and started building additional support, saying the show’s demise was “really sad. On the Record is one of the very few programs that provide a local perspective on politics.“

Little started investigating potential sponsors, as did other longtime viewers.

By late Dec. 17, Rubin thanked the group’s members for “writing letters and emails to WVEC TV and BeLo Broadcasting in Dallas,“ the Norfolk station’s owner.

“There are sponsors out there,“ Rubin said. “I am finding them and if you are interested in advertising to an audience that includes business and political leaders as well as other good folks who want to be well informed, let me know. Maybe it takes cancellation of a good show like On the Record for viewers to wake up and realize that nothing is permanent [and programs need] to be nurtured and supported to survive in a tough economy.“

Letters to the editor have started appearing in Norfolk on his behalf.

Perhaps a group of 100 Virginians can change a decision by a Dallas-based broadcasting corporation. Perhaps not.

Meanwhile, major daily newspapers across the country are still losing readers.

In Detroit, daily newspapers are to be delivered to homes three days a week.

Where will the slide end? A vibrant democratic system is one possible casualty if newspapers keep sliding off the map.

No one really knows how newspapers will evolve.
We can all support and read—and buy the papers and the goods they advertise. We can buy ads.

Newspapers are still needed and relevant and black and white, if not read all over.