State of the News address

Polls show that the number of Americans who think of news organizations as “highly professional” has declined significantly. Similar polls show that newspapers are considered less trustworthy, up-to-date, useful, informational and entertaining than Internet and cable, national and local TV news. And, if those numbers aren’t worrisome enough for a budding journalist like myself, polls show that people of all ages see a decreased role for traditional news.

So where does that leave me? Where does that leave our class, our school and the hundreds of thousands of journalists and journalists-to-be in the world? The optimistic side of me likes to think there will always be a place for traditional news journalism in our world — that no matter how big the blogosphere gets, that no matter how fast people can get updated news on their computers, phones and watches there will still be millions of people who sit down in the morning with a cup of coffee and a bowl of Lucky Charms to read the newspaper. But that’s all a little bit too “Leave it to Beaver” — the more rational part of me realizes that journalism is, and will be, changing in the face of new media forms.

This is not the first time that news has faced changes, however. As Leonard Downie Jr. and Robert Kaiser write in “The News About the News,” newspaper’s role has changed significantly throughout history. Following the Revolutionary War, newspapers were politically aligned and reported on regional news — geography and technology limited the amount of national news covered. As the country expanded, and as the demand for more reliable and objective news grew, the “penny press” erupted in popularity. The “penny press” brought more news to more people with more reporters and a cheap price. As Downie and Kaiser point out, the “penny press” created the foundation for today’s newspapers — they targeted a larger audience, were funded primarily by advertisers and reported on a wide variety of topics. In a quote from historian Michael Schudson, “for the first time, the newspaper reflected not just commerce or politics but social life.” Newspapers adapted to “the growth of cities, the spread of public education and literacy and improved printing technology.”

We now face the issue of adapting again. With wider dissemination of the news now possible with the Internet and higher connectivity across our society, newspapers have to face the prospect of not being the go-to-source with breaking news. We’ve simply become too slow. However, this is not to say our role must diminish; our role must simply be altered.

One advantage newspapers will always hold over blogs, chat rooms or the nightly news broadcast is depth of reporting. As Downie and Kaiser write, newspaper sales were through the roof on September 12, 2001. Even though people across the country had been glued to their televisions and computer screens looking for the newest updates on Sept. 11, newspapers across the country sold record amount of copies the following day. When people are searching for the most complete and accurate news, they still turn to newspapers. As long as people continue to be curious or interested in getting the whole story on important news topics, newspapers will hold an important place in society’s news diet.

In addition to providing more extensive coverage to citizens, newspapers also have the privilege of gaining access to government, sports teams, politicians, celebrities and everyone else in between. While the blogosphere has blown up, the common blogger doesn’t have access to President Bush. The common blogger isn’t admitted into the clubhouse to witness the Super Bowl victory celebration. The common blogger isn’t issued a press pass by the Internet to witness a lot of the things a newspaper reporter gets to. This will always give newspapers the ability to access more stories at more angles than other news media.

While there is a lot of pessimism expressed for the future of newspapers, I simply can’t envision a world without daily newspapers. Internet is faster and more expansive. Television news provides around-the-clock coverage, as does radio. Everyone can now be a “citizen journalist” through blogs and chat rooms and outlets like MyMissourian.com that litter the Web. However, newspapers still maintain a foothold in society that I think will ultimately be protected. Newspaper Web sites need to be improved (both in accessibility and presentation), news coverage may need to shift to provide more analysis and clarification (as opposed to simply reporting), but too strong of a niche has been carved for the newspaper to die off.