The Importance

After having all this information thrown at you about the cloudy future of print media and the slow start-up of online news revenues, the next questions are “Why should I care?” and “What does this mean to me?”

The answer is simple.

Traditional media and established news companies offer something that blogging and new media can’t and that is – credibility, ethics and just damn good reporting.

In an editorial published online at the Milwauke Journal Sentinel entitled “Journalism that matters: It’s more vital than ever,” the author explains why – in his opinion – journalism done right is needed now more than ever.

“We’re talking about the continuing need, in this evolving media landscape, for journalism done well to serve the higher purpose of a functioning democracy.

We speak here not of those nuggets of juicy gossip that the tabloids pass off as reporting – truth or verification not required for publication. And journalism needs to be broader than the blog criticism or analysis likely sparked by something someone read first in a newspaper or its online edition.“

“We are talking about the continuation of good, public-service journalism. And we wonder, if newspapers cease to do this, will the market decide that giving readers what they want is more profitable than fulfilling the public obligation in a democracy of giving them also what they need?

Newspapers are not immune to the technological and economic advances affecting and overtaking whole industries. Fundamental change is occurring all around us and would be occurring no matter what newspapers had done in the past to remake themselves.

Yet newspapers, here and elsewhere, still offer the broadest array of solid, vetted news and information and, with Internet operations, reach more people.“

The article also lists nine guidelines for journalism I have listed below. The have been taken from the book “The Elements of Journalism – What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect” by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel and are taught in many journalism classes throughout the United States including the ones right here at the University we all know and love.

“Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.

Its first loyalty is to the governed, not the governors.

Its essence is a discipline of verification of facts.

It practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.

It must serve as an independent monitor of power.

It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.

It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.

It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.

Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.”

So, again, why should we care about the current state of print media and the future changes made by major news corporations? Simply put in the last words of the article: Good public service reporting needs to survive. Democracy demands it.