Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Why we don’t read newspapers

Jim Taricani

There was a letter to the editor in the Providence Journal recently by a man bemoaning the fact that newspaper circulation and readership is at an all time low, and getting lower. He suggests people should subscribe to newspapers and basically read them on a regular basis instead of relying on television and radio news.
What this letter writer missed is the unmistakeable fact that so many Americans have opted for the slick, superficial method of keeping informed. For decades now, young people have been raised in a land of television, Ipods, digital transmission of information and sensational programming. The cumulative effect of all of that is brain-rot.
Shows like American Idol and whatever that dance contest program is dominate the interests of the masses.
While there are plenty of 24 hour cable news shows, the Neilson ratings show that only a fraction of the populace watches them.
I have friends that pay a lot of attention to editorials in the Journal, and other publications. But who reads editorials any more? Surely not the 20-something set. And most of my generation, the baby-boomers, have little time to read anything except their 401k balance sheets or the box scores on the Sports page, or more likely, the internet coverage of sports.
People are turned off by politicians because so many are nothing more than consultant-driven talking heads, without any real conviction on the issues they profess to care about.
There are plenty of people who work in television news, that don’t read newspapers.
I personally believe that newspapers provide the most legitimate form of journalism. Whether you agree with the point of view of a particular story or not, you can be assured that the facts of the story have gone through a vetting process, unlike so many of the web-based writers who claim to be reporters.
Newspaper stories are able to provide the context to stories that televison and radio news can rarely do, becasue of time constraints.
So many of the major newspapers in this country are downsizing. It is depressing to see the staple of the 4th estate wilt away under the hot glare of the so-called “ new media.“
While there are many websites/blogs and other entities that provide useful and factual information, there is nothing like reading newspaper story that is well written, fact checked, and balanced in its reporting.
If the web-based versions of newspapers do take over the printed versions, I would hope that the same high standards of journalism will apply to those who produce those web pages.
But for me, I still look forward to picking up my morning newspapers and digesting them, editorials and all, over a good cup of coffee.
If our citizens are not informed, and more importantly if they don’t take the time to get themselves informed, then this lively experiment we call our democracy is all for naught.