Never say "Die"

The Reconstruction of American Journalism is an article written by The Journalism School at Columbia University that highlights the importance of "accountability" in journalism. The growth of the Internet is bring the need for newspapers down. Most readers would prefer to just click and read the stories of their choosing. Not only does the newspaper have to compete with the news on television, it now has a faster medium to compete with -Internet.

Every news station has a website; along with a website, they have a Facebook page, blog and Twitter, bring news to their readers faster and with less searching. Google has made searching for Headlines and stories effortless - taking the hassle, black fingers and advertisements out of the readers way.

Another topic the article brought up was the decrease in advertisers interest in placing ad's in newspapers; since the economy dropped. Newspapers run off the money brought in by advertisers, so what is the solution to being able to run a newspaper with no funds? Leonard Downey Jr. and Professor Michael Schudson, the writers of the article, are suggesting government funding. Do we see a problem with this?

Yes! If the government then controls the newspaper, they control the voice. The whole point to the newspaper is the "right to free speech" and "right to the press"; if the government funds the newspaper, they control the newspaper. Just imagine election year, when one candidate is preferred over the other - no longer will journalist be able to report both candidates in a non-bias way, yet report the good on one and the bad on the other.

The newspaper may be behind in times, with all this technology that we are now pron to use daily, but a lot of people still enjoy the tradition of a newspaper. Understanding that every business' marketing budget is cut, so they are going to advertise where most viewers will see it; the Internet. However, the newspaper is a classic medium that will not be forgotten nor die anytime soon.