RIM: Lesson - Newspapers and Democracy: The Print Media Crisis
The Print Media Crisis
"…it has been clear to me how critical it is that news about national and international events be available to all Americans and that it be provided to them in a way that offers background, context, depth and honest, factual information so that every citizen can form his or her own opinions and make decisions about the nation's policies as well as its interactions with its own people and with others around the globe. After all, helping to shape both the present and the future of our nation is the right, and the job, of a citizen in a democracy, and we are all obligated to participate."
-Vartan Gregorian, President, Carnegie Corporation of New York
The Problem
We have examined briefly the vital role that newspapers have had in the development of our democracy. As the quotation above implies, an informed citizenry is necessary for the continuation of our country, yet the media that have traditionally fulfilled this role are quickly facing extinction. This is a very recent phenomenon and has serious implications for news of every medium. With this topic, we will be investigating the decline of print media and some possible solutions that will allow the news to flourish in a digital format.
Reading Assignment 1: "Journalism's Crisis of Confidence"
Download and read page i-viii of "Journalism's Crisis of Confidence" by Vartan Gregorian. Links to an external site. Gregorian is the former president of Brown University and this article contains his introductory remarks from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
You do not have to read the rest of the article, though you may if you like. The purpose of this writing is to examine the training and education needed by future generations of journalists.
"As opinions and facts become more and more indistinguishable from each other, confusion about the increasingly blurry line between fact and opinion—even between what is factual news and what is presented as news but comes wrapped in ideology—and uncertainty about the trustworthiness of journalism and its practitioners grows." -Gregorian
Reading Assignment 2: "As Newspapers Close"
We often think of values such as integrity and credibility as being rather abstract. In journalism, these values often relate directly to profitability. The general business model of a news outlet depends on advertising revenue based on the number of readers or viewers. The pressure to make a profit requires companies to follow their audience. The audience in the last ten years has moved online.
Needless to say, today’s decline of printed newspapers has potentially devastating effects for our democracy. After reading the above article, reflect on the state of the business of news in our modern economy.
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