Will Bee give in to peer pressure?

The Sacramento Bee recently cut more staff due to declines in advertising revenue—an ongoing swan song these days for many traditional newspapers.

Despite their present image as ugly, analog ducklings, some print newspapers and magazines are doing well and generating revenue that keeps them profitable. The New York Times reported this week on one source of advertising that is helping: ads from medical-marijuana dispensaries.

The cannabis ads, online and in print, have helped papers large and small, including the San Francisco Chronicle. At the Bee, they are taking baby steps in this direction.

“We do accept medical-marijuana ads online,” said Bee spokewoman Pam Dinsmore, adding she expects the first of those ads to be online soon. But, per Bee policy, the print side does not allow for cannabis ads.

“We are not there yet,” Dinsmore said.

—Cull de Sac, www.newsreview.com/culldesac

It’s not funny

There’s a new Facebook meme going around that’s making me want to cause great, irreversible harm to the Internet.

You’ve probably seen it by now: A female posts a Facebook status that reads something to the effect of “I like it on the counter” or “I like it in the bathroom.”

The point? Well, much like January’s bra-color meme, this coy status update is supposed to promote breast-cancer awareness.

Nice idea, right? Actually, no.

Stupid Facebook memes such as the one that’s currently going viral are not only pointless, they actually desensitize us to the actual cause.

Here’s the thing: I’m aware of breast cancer—and just as I don’t need a pink razor or water bottle to remind me of the devastation it exacts, I don’t need you telling me, oh-so-slyly, where you like “it” to remind me that, according to the American Cancer Society, more than 200,000 people will die of breast cancer in 2010.

Salon’s Broadsheet blog put it best: “Now that you have our attention, what do you have to say? … Seeing as the status updates mention nothing about disease, perhaps it translates to the more succinct: Breasts exist!”

How about this: Use your status update to remind others to take advantage of preventative measures such as mammograms. Even better, share links to organizations that legitimately promote related funding—no cutesy pink ribbon needed.

—Popsmart, www.newsreview.com/popsmart