ARE THERE ANY ADULTS LEFT IN THIS FAMILY?
I find this a fairly dumb performance, but then, I find the source to be a fairly dumb guy, so at least he's consistent.

The papers cited have a purpose, Pinch. They draw in readers who wouldn't otherwise pay attention to the main product. When more and more youths are turning to alternate sources for news, it makes sense to offer them something that can engage them. You know...an alternative.

"I think (youth papers) are condescending, I think they degrade the readership, I think they're talking down to the reader," he said. "They're saying, 'You don't (understand) what we offer ... so we're going to give you this thing that you can get.' And you know something -- bullshit. We don't want to become less than we are to reach an audience whose needs we wouldn't do a good job of meeting."

You're wrong, you condescending dolt. They're not saying anything like that. They're offering a potential customer another option. These customers don't want to waste time wading through an entire 'regular' newspaper; they're used to getting their information in a compact, digested format. But if you can get them engaged, you can entice them to give the main publication more attention. But just blowing them off because you don't want to lower yourself to reach out to them is an outrageously elitist stance to take.

Then the topic turned to Jason Blair. Pinch's explanation led to my choice of headline for this riff:

He said Blair's many fabrications and his plagiarism were allowed to go unchecked because of a history of poor newsroom management practices. He noted that when he himself was made a metro editor he suddenly took charge of 75 reporters -- without a single day of management training.

It still shows, boyo. It still shows.