From Miller-McClune: Will Critique Work for Food
Most newspapers continue to cover the world of culture using freelancers and (in the case of film and television) wire-service copy to supplement the remaining staff. A few, including the Los Angeles Times, have inaugurated blogs on their Web sites to get arts news out more quickly.
On the other hand, entertainment news pages are increasingly filled with celebrity gossip, as many newspapers continue their futile attempt to attract young readers. “The CelebCult virus is eating our culture alive, and newspapers voluntarily expose themselves to it,” veteran Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert complained late last year. “They want to devote less of their space to considered prose, and more to ignorant gawking.”
This has led to a dearth of serious arts coverage – including thoughtful analysis of pop culture. “There is a real sense of a hole that needs to be filled,” says Judith Kurnick, a former music critic who now serves as the League of American Orchestras’ vice president for strategic communications.