I had nearly forgotten what a fish wrapper the last remaining daily newspaper in Phoenix really is...until I started sneezing again while trying to read it on my last trip to the Valley of the Sun.\n\nTrying to read this rag (apparently printed on the toilet paper quality newsprint, using some sort of \""ink\"" that causes massive nasal irritation, smears, rubs off and immediately blackens my hands and stains my clothes) is an exercise in frustration.\n\nWhile the paper itself is physically unappealing, the actual content is almost unreadable...I have not seen so many typos, grammatical errors and factual misstatements since the last time I wrote a business plan!\n\nBut, my business isn't reporting...or writing...or even advertising!\n\nIn theory, that is the business of the AZ Republic.\n\nEspecially reporting!\n\nI read about the Fiesta Bowl Fiasco investigation this morning...what a blockbuster!\n\nI read about all the shenanigans that were known for years to everyone even peripherally around the people involved in the Fiesta Bowl...everyone except the publisher of the AZ Republic who was on the Fiesta Bowl Executive committee.\n\nI didn't read about a bunch of other Fiesta Bowl stuff that I've heard about for years...they must still be \""investigating\"".\n\nI expect that the publisher thought that all the free trips, free tickets, free hookers and blow and the rest of the swag were handed out just because he, Russell, and John were such cool guys!\n\nOf course, that's just rumor...I'm no investigative journalist...but then I'm not sure they have any of those at the Republic, either.\n\nI understand that newspapers are in some trouble...they haven't, by and large, figured out how to change their business model to adapt to the new paradigm...they were caught off guard (much like Russell in an ambush interview yesterday).\n\nBut the \""solutions\"" being deployed by the Republic to try to \""save\"" their paper (poor quality paper and ink: major cuts to reporting and editorial staff, creative content and more) are reminiscent of every other business that has missed the signs of changing times and then cut everything useful in a effort to save dollars and their hides.\n\nIt kind of makes me wonder what else they missed.\n\nAt the end of the day, this paper, like many others, will likely rest on the scrapheap of broken businesses along with the telegraphs that used to bring important news from far away places and the Smith Corona's they used to use to type their stories.