Sunday, January 11, 2009
Society transforming before our eyes
I'd like to interrupt this column to praise the newsrooms of America. Their ranks are thinning as more people feel they can meet their duty as informed citizens by grazing on blogs or watching a clash of personalities on cable talk shows. Yes, a few Web sites and television outlets do some original digging, but the great mass of consequential reporting on civic affairs still comes from the print media.And similar claims can be made for the coverage of the current financial mess and its human impact. The lefty Huffington Post blog may blow hot-and-indignant as it swipes from others — including its writers, few of whom it pays — but the real lowdown on the villains and their cons have come from the pages of BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal and other employers of reporters.
Barron's magazine published a piece questioning Bernard Madoff's financial genius seven years ago. Imagine the pain that could have been spared had more people read it.
Today's front page story: "P-I's closure would reflect U.S. trend. Eric Pryne writes:
In Seattle, the grieving already has begun. "This is a civic crisis," said Anne Bremner, co-chair of the Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town, a group that formed six years ago when a legal battle with the rival Seattle Times threatened the P-I's future.
At their best, newspapers serve as community watchdogs, mirrors, forums. "No one doubts their value in our democracy," Mayor Greg Nickels said Friday.
That value is enhanced, many say, when a city is served by two or more newspapers, not just one. That's why the P-I's likely demise is so troubling.
"Competition improves the quality of journalism," said Kathy George, the two-newspaper committee's attorney and a former P-I reporter and editor. "If you lose that, there's going to be less incentive to break important stories and to be aggressive watchdogs."
Don't count on bloggers or talk radio to fill the gap, said former state Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge, another committee leader: They mostly talk about what's in the newspapers.
[as I do, so thank you, Eric Pryne, for your reporting]
And, the ST on the P-I, including timeline: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008607234_pimain09.html
Sources:
Harrop, Froma . "Opinion | Onus now on Obama and his party to govern nation ethically | Seattle Times Newspaper." The Seattle Times | Seattle Times Newspaper. 10 Jan. 2009. 11 Jan. 2009 <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008610560_opin10harrop.html
Labels: culture, Net Gen, new media
