"We have learned that, in order to participate fully in democratic civil life, individuals must be culturally grounded, confident of their own voices, and certain of the value of their contributions. Art and culture give us this grounding.”
— Graciela Sanchez, Esperanza Peace and Justice Center
Selling newspapers should be guaranteed to any long standing publication with a reputation of providing good service to the people of this country. At every turn there are mergers, sales and chronic change within the profession. I believe the 'honest' news media is under seige. What is being done? Is the profession being wittled away by corporate takeover with faux fronts to political priorities that will come to endanger the democracy of The West? I think so.
There has to be an appreciation of the profession of journalism by the government with guarantees that some aspects of the profession will never change. It is generational reassurance that transends this country when one can point to the archives of companies like The New York Times to provide continuity of whom we are as people.
When Hurricane Katrina struck, The Times Picayune was in danger of losing it's archives. What would we do if those archives were in danger of slipping away from public assess through the sale of that paper? Where would our generational 'truths' come from? There is a part of the profession of journalism that is more than a corporate 'dream' of value. There is the value of patriotism, history and a social record that is never recorded in government. A private institution that makes government accountable to it's people. An INSTITUTION, a private institution with legislative permanence realizing the applications of law translates sometimes in embarrassing ways and needs fine tuning or elimination depending on how it affects the populous of the USA.
Reading the newspaper is reassuring to many people in the USA and I imagine the EU as well. It is reassuring to know the world is 'with us' and 'we are with them.' That cannot be truncated. If 'the truth' demanded by a professional journalistic corp were ever to end, the people that would 'control' social content reading could literally change the course of history by rewriting it. We as a country cannot allow that to happen. Journalism is the 'fourth estate' of the USA Constitution. Quite frankly, I see the 'corporate' treatment of journalism ruining the profession. I don't believe 'the truth' can be a marketable commodity so much as an awakening. Journalism is as much a part of the social structure of a populous in similar content of 'a job.' It's necessary and the life blood of an lifestyle, but, it's can't be a corporate authority that 'dictates' it's outcome.
Fears of Corporate Colonization in Journalism (click here)
This article examines almost a decade of reporting on public journalism published in the two largest and most widely read US journalism reviews: Columbia Journalism Review and American Journalism Review . It argues that instead of examining its historical underpinnings, theoretical claims, and practical manifestations, these two publications treated public journalism at best as just another manifestation of the increasing profit orientation of news media. At worst, it was scapegoated for the failings of all news organizations, including pandering to local communities and other practices that put immediate market interests ahead of democratic processes. While this description finds little support in the empirical research literature on public journalism, it may reflect mainstream journalists' increasing fears of a corporate colonization of journalism. Critics used the introduction of public journalism into newsrooms as an opportunity to express anxiety about how extra-journalistic (primarily economic) forces are encroaching upon journalists' professional autonomy and undermining the quality of news coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
