Struggling News Service Draws Back From The Cosmos
Two of the best writers on space are Robert Zimmerman and Irene
Mona Klotz, both of whom write for United Press International,
UPI.
The #2 press agency has been struggling for some time, as
newspapers, UPI's prime market, face declining circulation and the
resulting decline in ad revenue. The circulation problem may have
many causes, including the growth of internet news and targeted
cable news, the emergence of specialist news sites (like
Aero-News), and the tarnishing of the media escutcheon by recent
scandals.
Public -- and
advertiser -- trust in the newspaper industry has not been helped
by some newspapers' "solution" to the circulation problem, which
was to defraud their advertisers by simply pencil-whipping the
numbers. But whatever the reason, papers have less money, and they
spend less of it with UPI. So UPI has dropped space, specifically
its regular space columns: "Space Watch" by Zimmerman and "Space
Race II" by Klotz.
UPI, privately held by News World Communications (NWC) which in
turn is owned by the controversial Unification Church, does not
report financial information but is believed by industry insiders
to be a money-losing operation, as is the Washington Times
newspaper of similar ownership. In 2004, NWC pulled the plug on
several smaller ventures including a Spanish-language paper and two
newsmagazines; at the time NWC indicated that saving money was a
primary reason.
Zimmerman told Dr. David Livingstone on The Space Show that
UPI couldn't make money on space, and instead wanted to replace the
service's two accomplished space writers with columns on "consumer
health" and "broadband." (If you are a cynic, you will interpret
that as "columns that will shill for pharmaceutical companies" and
"columns that will shill for the cellular/phone/internet cartel,"
all intended to pump advertising from those groups. But we are not
cynics here).
UPI's Science Editor
Phil Berardelli (pictured, right) confirmed for Aero-News that UPI
has had to terminate aerospace coverage. He took pains to let us
know that the cause was economic and doesn't reflect on the
writers: "The decision to drop our aerospace coverage at this time
was based on several factors, all having to do with current
editorial costs and potential markets, but not at all having to do
with the quality of the columns by Irene Klotz and Robert
Zimmerman, both of whom I know personally and respect greatly."
He also told us about a casualty we had overlooked: "...the
decision ended my own astronomy column, 'In the Stars,' which was a
labor of love."
Zimmerman's 'Genesis,' the story of the groundbreaking
Apollo 8 mission, was a personal favorite of mine, and several of
us at Aero-News are big fans of Klotz's writing [E-I-C Note: With
good reason!]. She was Dr. Peter Diamandis's choice to work with
him on 'X-Prize: Inside the New Race to Space.' Both
of them are on top of everything to do with commercial space, and
capable writers too: we're sure that they'll both land on their
feet.
In the meantime, UPI's Phil Berardelli will be watching the
numbers. "I hope that this situation is temporary and that we will
be able to resume our coverage in the near future," the editor told
us. We hope so too.
To the general public, who depend on newspapers that depend on
wire services for content, this is going to mean less information
about the ongoing space revolution. We're sure to still be seeing
these bylines; we're just going to have to look a little harder for
them.