Is John Oliver's Riff On Newspapers Just 'Making Fun Of' Or 'A Love Letter To Newspapers'?

John Oliver's recent riff on the state of journalism at the local level (hint: He doesn't like it) has set off a conversation both inside and outside of the industry about what's happening and where it's going.

If you're a reporter, know a reporter or are any sort of an avid news consumer, chances are you saw the 19-minute video from Sunday shared onto your Facebook timeline or Twitter feed. The video has racked up more than 3 million views on YouTube and was featured on just about every news website out there.

In it, Oliver shows how plummeting revenue has gutted journalism at the local level, often to the detriment of medium-sized and metro newspapers that have long been the watchdogs of communities across the country.

The main target of the British comedian's ire: Tronc, the new Tribune Publishing re-brand that came with plenty of buzzwords but few solutions.

Watch Oliver's segment below:

The message seemed to be straightforward enough: Journalism outlets need to find a way to balance click-friendly content that pays the bills with the meaningful reporting that drives impactful change.

But not everyone in the industry was so enamored with the piece.

Most notably, David Chavern, president and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America (and former U.S. Chamber Of Commerce president who has no newspaper experience) said Oliver should "spend more time talking about what the future of news could be, and less time poking fun at publishers who are trying to get there."

His statement added:

However, other than encouraging people to pay for more news, he doesn't offer any answers. More particularly, he spends most of the piece making fun of publishers who are just trying to figure it out. Whatever you think of the name "tronc" and that company's announced growth strategy, at least they are trying new things and trying to figure out how to create great news journalism in the digital era. John Oliver doesn't seem to have any better ideas.

Margaret Sullivan, the Washington Post's media columnist, took exception to Chavern's statement. She said journalists should take it as a wake-up call instead of a personal slight:

Actually, no. What Oliver did was precisely nail everything that’s been happening in the industry that Chavern represents: The shrinking staffs, the abandonment of important beats, the love of click bait over substance, the deadly loss of ad revenue, the truly bad ideas that have come to the surface out of desperation, the persistent failures to serve the reading public.

Oliver — who is, after all, in the comedy business — did indeed make fun of Tronc, the renamed Tribune Co., whose incomprehensible corporate jargon thoroughly deserves the drubbing it’s been getting in recent months. And he took some well-deserved shots at media’s addiction to content that generates digital traffic, particularly ever-weirder stories about cats. And Oliver’s final sequence was a brilliant send-up of the movie “Spotlight” as it would be in the new newspaper environment.

In short, Oliver’s piece — widely read and talked about on Monday, not only in media circles but among lots of nonjournalists who value good journalism — was pretty much a love letter to newspapers.

What did you think? Do you agree or disagree with what Oliver had to say? Got any big ideas to save journalism? Let us know in the comments below.