Newspapers are like the Top 40, Alex Massie argues, because they are both mass-culture products in a time when mass culture no longer exists. We all have our own interests, best satisfied elsewhere:

The problem newspapers have (or, rather, one of the problems they face) these days is that the nature of the beast has traditionally encouraged them to have as broad an appeal as possible*. Hence a single product wants to attract people who love crossword puzzles and those with a passion for gardening; political junkies and corporate executives; cricket fans and teachers…

But as we all know by know, the rise of cheap distribution and the niche opportunities afforded by the internet, threaten all that.

This helps explain why so many newspapers are so awful, and becoming more so as they respond to the collapse of their business model and the rising competition for people’s attention. Like any mass-market product, the traditional newspaper is inherently bland. But with enough intelligence behind it, that blandness could sparkle; it was an expression of shared taste, an engine of bourgeois social consensus. Leveraging this authority, the best papers could employ journalism to nudge government and society in new directions.

But the line between blandness and mediocrity is exceedingly fine. It didn’t take much to push many papers over it.