CHARLES PAUL FREUND LOOKS AT

CHARLES PAUL FREUND LOOKS AT an interesting new slant in the New York Times’ business reporting: since when did the monolithic chain of Tower record/video/book/porn stores become “traditional music stores”?

When I was a kid (waaaay back in the prehistoric 1970s), a “traditional music store” was the sort of little mom and pop store that Conrad Janis’ character owned in Mork & Mindy, and the Times was railing that chains like Tower were putting stores like that out of business. As Freund writes, “When it comes to reporting business developments, most of whatever is happening is not only bad news, it’s a sociological melodrama”.

Exactly.