Film at 11

Much has been said over the past couple years about the imminent demise of newspapers and what that will mean to Democracy as we know it. One thing's for sure, television news certainly won't be the same.

As someone with the good fortune, or misfortune, of having a television (with cable!) on my desk, I watch the news virtually all day. And let me tell you, if it were not for the newspaper, these guys would have nothing to report, except maybe the weather and the occasional car chase. Television news would be reduced to a reality show. One station has gone so far as to invite reporters from Voice of San Diego, a Web site that focuses on San Diego government issues, onto its afternoon newscasts to talk about that organization's latest scoops. Another has partnered with the North County Times for some of its news. All brazenly rip off The San Diego Union-Tribune for its juiciest pieces, including today's front-page gem by Jeanette Steele detailing how financial challenges facing the San Diego Historical Society are resulting in some very visible cutbacks in service. Proving that no story is too small to steal, one station even plucked from a community news section a story about the possible closure of an after-school center (a story that a shocked, shocked! councilwoman later told the center she had no idea what was going on until she read about it in the paper).

It's a daily occurrence. Sometimes, an anchor will attribute the story to the U-T. Far more frequently, he or she won't. Either way, if we go, television news will have nothing to offer but a few pretty little faces.