In his Sunday column, N&R editor Jeff “Grits” Gauger says farewell to the Rhinoceros Times.
While Gauger is kind to John Hammer –he writes that he stopped by Rhino headquarters and paid his respects—– he manages to get in a little shot:
It’s an irony, perhaps, that the Rhino died for reasons held most dear by the conservatives whose views the newspaper said it channeled. It failed as a business.
Its failure highlights a dissonance at the heart of newspapers’ challenges in a world of new consumer habits. Journalism is not, by itself, a business. It is a public service, one that at the Rhino, the News & Record and most other news outlets is supported by a commercial enterprise. The journalism may succeed even as the business fails.
Funny I don’t see the irony because that’s exactly what’s supposed to happen in a free market society –you put on your money on the line to start a business and you either make it or you don’t. It should be a universal truth instead of the grey area we’ve created where government picks winners and losers.
Here’s an idea — Hammer should do what quite a few businesses here in Gboro do –go before the City Council and ask for a loan (with favorable terms, mind you) to keep his business going. He could argue the Rhino is not only providing jobs, but –as Gauger put it –providing a public service. Indeed much of the response to the Rhino’s demise has focused on the valuable public service it provided by keeping a close eye on local government.
Crazy idea, I know. Hammer wouldn’t do that, and if he did, we can probably guess what the answer would be. At least we know for sure he wouldn’t get Mayor Robbie Perkins’ vote.
