Gossip and the Bottom Line in the Media Business

(MoneyWatch)  Opening my local Sunday newspaper this morning, I gasped: "Wow, it must be going out of business! This looks like it is writing its own obituary!"

Not so. The San Francisco Chronicle only seemed to be uttering its final "bye-bye." In fact, in a wraparound section, the newspaper was simply continuing a long celebration of the past 144 years of waging journalism here by the Bay.

On the other hand, a reader couldn't help but wonder about what the Chronicle is trying to accomplish here.

Why exactly is this newspaper, which has been widely reported to be in serious financial trouble, trying to tell us its entire life story, during this particular year? Doesn't it resemble a dying patient, who suddenly begins confiding everything to a care-taker, in those final, precious moments of life?

Over half of the Chronicle's lifetime ago -- 73 years back -- a young Herb Caen first walked through the door.

Those who enjoy dissing the Chronicle take a certain measure of pleasure in noting that the paper's most famous writer was a gossip columnist. But Caen was actually a great deal more than that; he captured the beat of this city as no one else, before or since, has been able to do.

Along the way, he made his share of mistakes, some of which he copped to, some not, but his form of journalism did something that also can be said of many works of fiction -- they capture truths that often seemed to elude straight journalists.

I thought of Caen today while reading Damon Darlin's piece about recent articles on TechCrunch and Gawker reporting that Apple was actively seeking to buy Twitter. There was no truth to this rumor, but the writers chose to go ahead with their pieces anyway.

Why? The rumor was good for business. As Darlin documents, both sites scored huge traffic gains courtesy of the unsupported allegations, and the authors don't seem to have any regrets that they may have misled readers in the process.

There's no evidence (that I am aware of) that any of their advertisers minded either.

Any blogger will tell you that (s)he is acutely aware of daily traffic flows to our sites. It is a constant battle to build up a user base when people have so many alternative channels for discovering the news and information they seek. That's one of the reasons we post on a daily, or even more frequent, basis, to continue feeding the beast.

Meanwhile, if you thought I was about to claim the high ground and denounce the gossipers, forget it. Not today, because I'm remembering Herb Caen. (Though I have a suggestion: Label your speculative posts as such -- it shouldn't hurt the bottom line and might help you preserve some credibility when you've actually done some real journalism.)

Meanwhile, the San Francisco Chronicle will apparently devote its Monday edition to finish up the chronicle its 144-year history. So, that means it will probably close down on Tuesday...

(Warning Label: This last is pure speculation.)