Like millions of others, I grew up in a newspaper-reading family.
A family would have several papers, morning or afternoon, at a time when afternoon dailies were still common (and commonly profitable). One read almost every part of the paper, and the names of reporters, editors, and publishers were well-known to readers. So one would talk about what a reporter or editorial board wrote, using the names of the respective authors.
Beyond the newspapers of the household, one could read still more papers, from across America and around the globe, at a proper library. It was one of the routines of life to augment the reading of one’s household papers with these others.
There was no luxury in this; it was part of a larger routine, and nearly as important in emphasis as meals, work, academics, or active pursuits.
Nor was there adulation of newspapers, but rather respect when they reported well, and criticism when they did not.
I publish two blogs, both of which are of commentary, but not the distinctive reporting that characterizes a fit newspaper. The difference between these forms is vast.
There was no call to journalism in families as I’ve described; they were readers, not would-be reporters. I have never had the desire to be a reporter or journalist, and never the foolish opinion that I would be good at it, in any event.
And yet, for it all, blogs of politics and commentary took off simply because they were possible for individual expression (through the Web) and seemingly necessary (through the often uncritical reporting and commentary of complacent papers). The relationship between mediocre reporters and politicians was too close, too cozy, too condescending of readers’ judgment.
Bloggers are the beneficiaries of a stronger and healthier newspaper era, where critical readers expected, and often received, solid information.
Much has been said about the death of the newspaper industry, and many papers have gone under, but that industry will go on, and find even a renaissance, of sorts. The decline is a trend that’s been evident for decades, and long before bloggers emerged on the scene.
Some who have announced the death of newspapers have done so in circumstances of unwitting irony. The video clip below is from Wallstrip, a video podcast. The photogenic host, in 2008, proclaims the death of newspapers. The irony: she was soon thereafter replaced by a more attractive woman, and soon after the replacement the podcast, itself, went under.
Like blogs (electronic versions of pamphlets), some newspapers will go on. I certainly hope they do; I hope just as much that those papers that survive new trends and the Great Recession will return to an independent stance unbowed to politicians, bureaucrats, and government-subsidy-hungry corporations.
I’m yet an optimist. America will come through these hard years stronger than even before, and so will hard-charging, plucky, watchdog newspapers.
Next, in Part Two, tonight: Local Newspapers.