What ails classical music criticism

A recent post on Zach Carstensen's fine blog "The Gathering Note" asks a good question:

So why are newspapers dumping their critics? My own feeling is that newspapers, Seattle’s two daily’s included, haven’t figured out a way to fit their classical coverage to a greatly changed classical music scene and changed ways people, including the current audience for classical music, digest both music and news about said music.

That's certainly part of the puzzle, but the fault isn't entirely with the newspapers. Much of what passes for music criticism bears some of the blame. Why? Because more often than not it is tired and boorish.