New look -- but for how long?

My brother the PR executive called to ask if I'd seen the local newspaper's latest website design. It didn't please him, and he wanted to vent to me because he had suppressed his first impulse: to tweet about it. Ruffled feathers and all that.

The subject of his displeasure, though, reminded me of an evening newspaper in a city in which I once worked for the morning competition. The PM went from a nearly exclusive emphasis on local news to heavy-duty copshop reports to a series of visual redesigns. The changes, it seemed, weren't doing much to attract readers -- and advertisers.

Then came the day when another, different-looking version of the paper arrived, proclaiming itself, "The newspaper for people who watch television."

Well, people certainly were doing that, and apparently they continued to do so -- instead of reading the newspaper, the new slogan notwithstanding. Shortly thereafter, the paper went out of business.

Since then, whenever I see a newspaper, TV news program or the like start to take on a new look -- or, of greater concern, a series of new looks -- I don't think, "Oh, how clever" or "They're really staying on the cutting edge," which, I suppose, is the reaction they're seeking.

No, I more often wonder just how bad things are down there -- and how much longer the publication or program will be around.