The Future of Journalism
This is a blog dedicated to discussing the future of journalism.
Pundicts predict that newspapers are dying. Americans aren't reading them, preferring instead to get news from television or their favorite internet site. Traditional news media like newspapers, news magazines and even network TV, meanwhile, seem to suffer from a loss of trust and credibility with the public. Media conglomerates, rather than trying to reclaim the moral high ground by improving news coverage, dance on the marionette strings of Wall Street stock analysts. News budgets are cut to meet ever-increasing demands for larger corporate profits. None of us decry the right of shareholders to make a profit; but when that profit motive erodes the noble cause of promoting democracy, freedom and a safe future for our children by providing a fair account of the day's activities, both the shareholders and the American people suffer. Even as they cut their news gathering and dissemination staff, media conglomerates try to lure in readers and viewers with dumbed down presentations of issues. They reason it is preferable to entertain than help us understand nuances of those issues, the grey areas we really need to understand in order to make informed decisions about our leaders and our culture. What an insult, especially to young adults who media bosses feel are too self-possessed and I-Pod addicted to care what happens to the world they are inheriting!
Journalism not only suffers from this set of challenges, but from larger idological conflicts in society. Political conservatives decry the liberal bias of the press, a Godless drift toward moral chaos and, eventually, the demise of the American dream. Liberals fear a censorship and oppression of the religious right, depriving the country of the free discussion of issues, eventually leading to the imposition of a monarchy, dictatorship or theocracy. Those who promote dialogue, the search for common ground and mutual respect among all people, are all too often intimidated into silence or marginalized.
Still, there is hope. Each generation possesses unique gifts and motivations to make the world a better place for themselves and their children. This blog site is dedicated to that generation. Hopefully it can provide a place for a rational discussion of how people of good will can save the news business from itself, and return civil discourse and the search for truth into the fabric of the American experience.
Pundicts predict that newspapers are dying. Americans aren't reading them, preferring instead to get news from television or their favorite internet site. Traditional news media like newspapers, news magazines and even network TV, meanwhile, seem to suffer from a loss of trust and credibility with the public. Media conglomerates, rather than trying to reclaim the moral high ground by improving news coverage, dance on the marionette strings of Wall Street stock analysts. News budgets are cut to meet ever-increasing demands for larger corporate profits. None of us decry the right of shareholders to make a profit; but when that profit motive erodes the noble cause of promoting democracy, freedom and a safe future for our children by providing a fair account of the day's activities, both the shareholders and the American people suffer. Even as they cut their news gathering and dissemination staff, media conglomerates try to lure in readers and viewers with dumbed down presentations of issues. They reason it is preferable to entertain than help us understand nuances of those issues, the grey areas we really need to understand in order to make informed decisions about our leaders and our culture. What an insult, especially to young adults who media bosses feel are too self-possessed and I-Pod addicted to care what happens to the world they are inheriting!
Journalism not only suffers from this set of challenges, but from larger idological conflicts in society. Political conservatives decry the liberal bias of the press, a Godless drift toward moral chaos and, eventually, the demise of the American dream. Liberals fear a censorship and oppression of the religious right, depriving the country of the free discussion of issues, eventually leading to the imposition of a monarchy, dictatorship or theocracy. Those who promote dialogue, the search for common ground and mutual respect among all people, are all too often intimidated into silence or marginalized.
Still, there is hope. Each generation possesses unique gifts and motivations to make the world a better place for themselves and their children. This blog site is dedicated to that generation. Hopefully it can provide a place for a rational discussion of how people of good will can save the news business from itself, and return civil discourse and the search for truth into the fabric of the American experience.
posted by Ken Waters | 9:22 AM
2 Comments:
An elegant & precise expression of such a wonderful thought
The problem is not the political divide in the country. It is not even the internet. It is the failure of newspapers to deliver news that meets its readers needs in ways that other forms of expression can not as effectively deliver.
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