Here's Where I am Wit It

I've been a certified reporter for a year - according to my business cards - and uh, I used to take it personally when people said newspaper was a dying business. Now? They just might deserve it.

Because let's face it: At the point that your organization is more focused on what sells instead of what serves, it should face the same capitalistic hardships as any other commercial enterprise.
 
I look at what newspapers were founded for; ideals such as empowering the public. Arming them with facts to stand against an unjust and oppressive government. A belief that education and freedom were closely related. If this is the true foundation of newspapers, they should be non-profits. A gentleman made a suggestion to me once. "I know it's a radical idea," he said," but what if the newspaper was in city hall and each town's taxpayers paid for it?" It actually made sense to me. Why not allow journalists to truly focus on the aspects that help people. Provide me with news, analysis and investigative reporting that holds our officials true. The Bible says it best: You can't serve two masters. Do you want to be a vehicle for public good, or do you want to make money? Apparently, principles and profit can't cohabit the same entity.

But they've strayed from these altruistic principles.

I'm not a journalist because I'm nosy and I want "the scoop." I don't give a damn about beating everybody else to the story. The most meaningful aspect of this gig is the stories that have had some kind of impact, the ones that have led total strangers to help each other.

We're in an age where a newspaper lays off hundreds of people because it made $1 million less in quarter 3 than quarter 2. Where is that revenue? Try looking in the CEO's pocket. That's not what I'm here for.

I will defend journalism until I die. But I'm not writing for your bottom line, and I'm not writing to make sure your books balance. It's not that people are too busy and too distracted to read the paper. It's not that times are tough and people would rather buy things they need than purchase a subscription; it's that they no longer believe in what you stand for.