Now that school has started up again -- and my face is more often in front of a computer -- I think I may start blogging again as well.
So, I will begin my comeback blog with a rant. Journalism, is in serious trouble and we need to do something about it. Yeah, I get it, everyone knows this, but I'm still frustrated with it. It's just that journalists (pullitzer prize winning ones) are being laid off left and right, research budgets are being cut, and I'm finding typos in the New York Times for crying out loud. All of this wouldn't be so bad, except the implications go far beyond a light, sub-par Sunday newspaper.
The implications are about our freedom. I'm not even being dramatic.
Think about. The health of a democracy is DIRECTLY associated with the health of its free press. In the words of Helen Thomas, journalists are watchdogs of democracy. They dig up information, keep governments, corporations in check. I mean look what happened to Nixon people! If no one is charged with digging up covered secrets --- well then secrets will be kept --- and we all know that government secrecy breeds power. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. (Great phrase - I don't care if you think it's overused.)
We don't want to end up like the USSR people. Or even (although I say this with hesitancy) even Russia -- where 792 journalists have been killed since 1992. That is a lot of people for a developed country. Or any country.
Point is, we need to fix this problem. We need to start paying journalists, paying for a news. It does a whole lot more than make us smarter, and give us random facts to impress our friends with. It maintains our democracy. Not to mention, the disintegration of journalism will leave me without the job I actually want upon graduation. Boo. Now therein lies the real problem...jk.
Support journalism, seek a solution. In the long run - and even in the short run - our freedom depends on it.
3 comments:
I agree Colleen.
HOWEVER...
We need news organizations to be committed to being independant and report NEWS, not sales and sensationalism.
Also, most people are never going to pay for news now. Once it's free people will become wary of paying for it at a later point. Maybe you'll get some, but you'll lose more.
Point 1 = Very true
Point 2 = Very sad and what I think will lead to the downfall of quality reporting and investigation...boo
Well said. Journalists are supposed to be the watchdogs of democracy and you’re right – the reporting is sub-par lately. You touched on print journalism problems, but I think broadcast has an even bigger fish to fry these days.
One word: deregulation. Major media is controlled by about six major corporations: General Electric owns NBC, Westinghouse owns CBS, Disney owns ABC, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation owns Fox, Viacom and Time Warner own a bunch of cable stations TBS, MTV, Comedy Central, and many others. These six major corporations also own much more than just a news station, but multi-million/billion dollar business(es) that are not media related. This may not seem like a big deal on the surface, but corporate ownership of media is a conflict of interest. What if the corporation or one of the many that it owns begins committing fraudulent acts? Or, even more common, what if large campaign donations are given to a particular political party who likes to give them major tax breaks? And when a journalist decides to speak out against what its corporate employer wishes, they are booted from the business. Dan Rather’s story is a perfect example. Now we have journalists who are more concerned about keeping their jobs and getting promoted than reporting a story. There are a few great journalists who take the risk and somehow get enough ratings to keep their jobs. But overall, freedom of the press is dead.
Media should be publicly funded to keep the reporting honest. Let the people pay for it and keep it accountable. NPR is a perfect example of this.
Post a Comment