Don't resist, just go for it. There is a nice discussion on the many meaning of the word 'kleenex' right below...

I tried it after having read about their supperiority in porn searches. It was quite good, actualy, especially these video snippets searching yields. It very well may be Microsoft has found its niche in search market...

Yup, that explains their pitiful market share and the general dearth of resources, so easy to observe in what goes on over there. They are as good as gone...

Evidently, you don't go out that much. People use interpreted languages in science all the time. At least I do. Where I sit, there is quite a bit of spare capacity waiting. When I try to figure something out it is way more reasonable to write a program in three-four hours and have it run overnight than to write it in two days and have it run in (say) thirty minutes.

Brains capable of producing decent code are actually a scarce resource. Further, authors of such code have a right to do with their creation as they please. Your feeling of entitlement to 'download that off their server' has nothing to do with it.

Especially if you factor in the racing aspect.

I am not convinced. I never denied that a dude with a camera can generate a story. Evidently, this happens all the time. But can he pursue the story? Frequently a problem which for the public starts with a news-flash, usually has a beginning and a follow-up, rarely captured live by a member of the public.
As for Journalist Union which will 'negotiate access, payment...' - payment of what? For now the stance of aggregators is that 'the stuff should be free and you guys just pay your own way through advertising, which we will kindly handle for you'. Not to mention that the union model, especially when the membership is in practice mandatory, has its own set of problems.
Besides, did you notice that the guy who took the photos went with it to a newspaper, which 1) published it 2) dispatched its paid hounds to chase the story. I am afraid that the 'paid hounds' part is indispensable for the chief cop to start explaining himself to the public.

Citizen journalism... OK, try thw following... Show up during a demonstration which is about to turn ugly with a camera, take some pictures. Now, since it is good to get both sides of the story, go interview one of the cops. Introduce yourself as a 'citizen yournalist'. Once in jail, call family / relatives and ask them to post the bond for you. Once you are out, try to get you camera back. File a lawsuit to get your removed photos back...

...and the 'new media' will surely remedy the situation by...

Look, specious reporting, government cheerleaders and shadowy dealings were in newspapers since there were newspapers. But importantly, there was something else too, something we may miss at some point.

I can only support what you wrote. I feel that a certain type of looking at world and world's affairs, best embodied by a persistent, even if sometimes slightly dodgy, newspaper reporter, seems to be going away. A lofty name for that: investigative journalism. Google offers to replace it by, as you put it, a combination of press releases and dog show reports. When it comes to getting to the bottom of things, well meaning bloggers will not even stand a chance against a desk sergeant of Wichita police, let alone against any government. And all that web seems to offer instead is 'alternative news' which usually is a nice moniker for web outfit of fringe groups and conspiracy theorists.

Been there, done that. It always sounds clever when you say it the right way.

Is there any other way to call it? 'Race to the bottom' sounds so crass. Perhaps 'delivering better customer value by focusing on essential factors while reducing extraneous costs?' I raced to the bottom once and I found really weird stuff there...

I would start speculating on the luddite aspect (or on anything else) as soon, as the information is confirmed by a source more serious than an article dated April 1. I have checked local French language media (La Presse, Le Devoir and Radio-Canada) and found nothing.

The Star is a joke every day of the year. Why April 1 should be any different?

Well, 'social media' IS downtime. So either way, the users get what they are coming for.