This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
When I see Deseret News executives frothing at the mouth about "innovation" as they eviscerate their own staff, I want to run to the nearest bathroom to throw up.
Can these be journalists making such prophetic statements? No, they are merely bean-counters demonstrating that old Mormon saw: "You can be forgiven for almost any sin except losing money."
There's nothing "innovative" about merging the staffs of the News and KSL. It's merely the creation of a giant platypus, as photojournalist Dirk Halstead called such fused reporting more than a decade ago. Halstead was lamenting the impending demise of American photojournalism and urged still photographers to pick up mini-cams, shoot video and post stories on the then-emerging Internet. It didn't work then. It won't work now.
And Deseret Connect? Nothing more than glorified, opinionated blogging.
What's the result of the combined newsrooms? I see the News morphing into a slanted Mormon version of The Catholic Register … just pure, unadulterated flack.
Hard-hitting, objective journalism is dead at the Deseret News, and I mourn its passing. So, I'm jumping ship for The Salt Lake Tribune, where some semblance of credible journalism is still practiced.
Nelson Wadsworth
Murray