Knight Ridder no more

In some sad news, the Knight Ridder publishing chain is being consumed by smaller rival McClatchy, and 12 of its newspapers will be sold off.For those wondering at my unhappiness, its source is twofold:

(1) This is yet another sign of a disturbing trend of newspapers companies getting larger and fewer, such that editorial control is increasingly wielded by a small group of media tycoons.

(2) Knight Ridder reporters have been some of the very few mainstream sources for critical writing on the Bush administration and its war efforts, as Atrios has pointed out.

I worry that the net effect of the merger may be the loss of some measure of real journalistic integrity in our press, replace with who knows what.