Old Media, Trying To Keep Up

We hear rumors that The Austin Chronicle is going to launch a new supplement to its weekly that will be geared towards a younger, hipper audience. "... Apparently it's being put out by younger members of the staff who can only take so much Flatlanders and Linklater..." said our source. We know that we're sick to death of hearing about most of what the Chronicle has to say, but we're not sure if slapping a younger face on the old dog is really what it needs.

Austinist fears that this is yet another attempt by a semi-stodgy, stuck-in-the-mud media outlet to rebrand itself in order to capture a younger, hipper market -- like a New Coke for the Chronicle. And we also fear that this new supplement will suffer from the same near-sightedness and ego that the main Chron suffers from. Weekly newspapers frequently forget that, though their main trade is in culture reporting, they're journalists with a responsibility to their audience to be even-handed and unbiased. Ask anyone who has fallen onto the personal bad side of a Chronicle reporter or editor -- trust us, there are plenty -- if they think the reporting is unbiased.

What we're saying is, the newspaper is not the right place to be cool. Its the right place to do real journalism and provide a solid service to your community. Leave the snark and the bias to the cool kids on the web, where they belong.