News is changing. This fact is obvious, I should not have to write a blog to inform anyone that news is changing- but it is, and that fact is vital to the rest of this blog.
I will be referencing these links:
http://www.minnpost.com/insideminnpost/2009/10/19/12627/a_modest_proposal_for_federal_funding_of_journalism
Journalists are losing their jobs, left and right. As a college student I find myself grateful some days that I am not in the "real world" just yet. I can write for my school newspaper and not have to worry about that newspaper still being around next week.
On a local level, newspapers are suffering. Every time I talk to someone that works for the Riverside Press Enterprise, they have two things to say about their job.
1. They are entirely grateful to still have it after the numerous times that the newspaper has fired large groups of people.
2. They are still in fear of losing their job.
...and some of these people have worked there for more than fifteen years
Similar things are happening to journalists all around the country, this is just a local example of one that is close to my heart.
Even more "large-scale" newspapers, like the Los Angeles Times, seem to be firing journalists left and right.
They have no choice.
The money is simply not there.
Even under these drastic circumstances, I still am not able to find a valid reason to justify the federal funding of newspapers or any public news sources. To me, this is a conflict of interest. Some of the files that I have attached address the idea that there are certain ways to have federal funding without there being politics affecting what is reported on and the way that things are reported.
Maybe I don't have a perfect understanding, but to me that sounds ridiculous. Eventually, and most likely sooner rather than later there are going to be horrible effects of letting the press be controlled by federal funding.
Everything that the U.S. government touches turns into a pig pile of cow manure, DO NOT let it touch public media, and especially not journalism.
So, if I certainly do not support federal funding of newspapers, what sort of solution do I support?
I believe that newspapers are dying, I am not even sure if ANY are going to exist by the time I finish college. But I think that as journalists, we need to accept change…we can’t just hold on to the past.
We cannot and should not ask the government to just “throw money” at a business that is failing. After all, we watched the government throw money at banks and car businesses that were failing, and those industries are still failing.
People are still going to want “real” news- not government news and not news that is funded by the government.
So lets be open to change and lets, as journalists, be open to deliver news to the public in the way that they want. Lets figure out how we are going to fund this changing industry as we find out what the finished product is going to look like.
Finally, lets celebrate. We are the journalists that are going to be entering into the industry during a time of change that will be remembered, we are part of history in the field that we are a part of. If you ask me, that’s pretty cool.
