A few years ago, a newspaper friend of mine handed me a sheath of papers and said, “this may well be the death of the newspaper business.” It was a print copy of Craigslist. Free advertising would take away a revenue source for newspapers. A couple years later at that same coffee shop, he pulled out his cellphone, clicked on a social media site and said, “this will be the death of objective editorials.”
In both cases, my editor friend was right; the loss of revenue meant the loss of staffers to do in-depth reporting, and social media has meant that there is no longer as much ability for newspapers to check and double check sources and to give editorial scrutiny over content.
In addition, people have gotten used to instantaneous reporting on events and will review an issue by the headlines only. A misinformed reader is a dangerous reader.
I contribute to public broadcasting because I want a medium free from government control. I will contribute to journalism because the curriculum will teach them to check their sources carefully, remove their own emoting and biases from their reports and hopefully find ways to present their stories in a way of technological media wizardry that will appeal to readers.
