Fighting the Good Fight

Of all the charts and commentaries, amidst all the surveys and studies, one observation stood out in Wednesday’s gloom and doom lecture. It was Professor Steffens' remarks on her perspective as a college student wondering about the future of journalism and her role in it.

I was taking broadcast and radio courses because I thought newspapers days were numbered. That was in the 1970s. Today that fear is far more true.

She’s right, of course. Thirty years later and predicting newspapers continued existence is the modern day equivalent of Columbus declaring the world round. But despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the telling part of Professor Steffens' fear for newspapers is that it was, at this point in time, false. No matter how well founded, at best the panic was premature.

And there’s some significance to that; to the fact that more than three decades ago people were preparing newspapers’ obituary just as they do today and nevertheless newspapers live on. Like some cartoon character that refuses to die despite all rationale, newspapers have this longevity, a persistent durability if you will.

Some might call it a survival instinct, but I believe newspapers deserve more credit than merely surviving. Are they thriving? No, not as a whole. But I wouldn’t say newspapers have some terminal illness that is leaving them on their last breaths. Newspapers and their future are somewhere in between, a middle ground where journalists can compromise that we will still be needed in the 21st century but we won’t be the only ones meeting the needs of our readers.

To be fair, I can’t definitively put my finger on our future. Heck, I didn’t even know whether I belonged in the pessimist or optimist camp prior to the readings, though it quickly became clear as I highlighted only the hopeful texts offered by Kaiser and Downie Jr; the quintessential phrase coming on page 110.

No other news medium can fill the role that good newspapers play in informing the country.

Therein lies hope, therein lies where I rest my faith in the future. The key to this reasoning is the distinction of “good newspapers” as the superior news source. What does it mean to be a good newspaper? Kaiser and Downie Jr. argue that good newspapers practice good journalism, a concept which they repeatedly attempt to define.

Good journalism does not often topple a president, but it frequently changes the lives of citizens, both grand and ordinary. (3) Good journalism holds communities together in times of crisis, providing the information and the images that constitute shared experience. (4) Good journalism…enriches Americans by giving them both useful information for their daily lives and a sense of participation in the wider world. Good journalism makes possible the cooperation among citizens that is critical to a civilized society. (6) Good journalism has to be intelligent, careful and correct; it has to put events in an accurate context. (104)

The ultimate conclusion is found on page four. Whether widely noticed or not, good journalism makes a difference somewhere every day.

These definitions are important, and not just because they give journalists like us a sense of esteem to what we do. Rather, they are important because these definitions aren’t something that time can change, that technology can change, nor that new generations can change. Good journalism, in my opinion, will always be good journalism.

It was in recognizing this that I learned a lot about the pedestal I put journalism on, a view that undoubtedly influences my forecast for the future. I firmly and forever believe that good journalism has inherent value. Much like Jean Jacque Rousseau’s philosophy for the human condition, I judge journalism to be of unparalleled significance when uncorrupted by outside pressures such as limited resources and profit-driven ownership. In it’s purest form -- investigative, explanatory, public service journalism -- it is not just good, it is wanted, needed, constitutionally protected.

Thus, so long as there are journalists in the profession who strive to be good at what they do, unwavering in the presence of the pressures which they face, journalism will march on. Unappreciated? Probably. Undeterred? As much as ever.

The state of the news business…is at a crossroads. A bright future could lie ahead, but that is far from certain. How it turns out will make an enormous difference for the United States. (13)

The age-old adage seems fitting for the age-old institution that is journalism. The more things change, the more they stay the same. America, since its inception, has regarded journalism and the news it produces as important to its citizens lives and to its own well-governing. No statistics or technological advances can convince me this fundamental desire and demand for news has been fulfilled.