A bailout, of journalism?

This one caught me by surprise. A couple days ago, I read an editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune that was re-printed from the Los Angeles Times. Apparently, this was Rosa Brooks' "last article" for the Times before embarking on a new job in Washington DC.

Essentially, she's asking for a bailout, of the newspaper industry. Yes, after the housing crunch, the banking crunch, the auto industry crunch, she says that newspapers need some cash, too.

And, yes, look around and newspapers everywhere are closing, soon to close, in eminent danger of closing, or declaring bankruptcy, as the Star Tribune did several months ago. So, on that front, she's right.

But, her article seems to claim that newspapers are the only place people get their news. She asks, "how will we recognize, or hope to forestall...pending [crises]?" She asks other questions very similar on other issues, including Iraq. I ask, are newspapers really that popular? Even Howard Beale, the iconic newsman in the 1970s classic "Network" screams at his viewing audience by saying, "less than HALF of you read newspapers!"

I read newspapers daily, as part of my job. Every once in a while, I'll go to the newspaper stand on the corner and buy one. However, some of the more interesting news stories you read, are the ones that don't fall into the category of "all the news that's fit to print," or maybe, there isn't enough room to print. They are the stories you'll find on Google News, Reuters and other Web sites like them.

I read through her editorial, and I included the link so you can as well, but I read through it hoping that she was talking "tongue and cheek." I hope she seriously didn't believe what she was saying. And, I know that the "yapping heads that dominate cable 'news'," as she so eloquently puts it, talk all the time about the "socialism" that seems to be creeping it's way into this country by all these governement bailouts. Let me ask, if the government did in fact bailout the newspapers, what then?

Would the government then dictate what is "fit to print?" That's just what we need, state-run media. Please understand, that was a sarcastic statement. We don't need government to bail out newspapers. Times are changing, the means by which people get their news are changing. You can simply use your cellphone to get news. Who needs a newspaper, that costs anywhere from a quarter to a dollar, when they can get it for free on the Internet?

Which leads me to an interesting poll I found on the website of the Twin Cities Business Journal (www.twincities.bizjournals.com). The poll question is as follows: Should people pay to read stories online? As of April 14, at 5:50 PM CDT, only 26% of respondants said "yes." Another 28% said "sometimes." Of course, in many cases, if you want to find archived articles, they are "pay-as-you-go." And, more and more newspapers are launching "E-ditions." Both Twin Cities newspapers offer electronic editions that are the exact same as the print edition. And, just as with the print edition, there is a subscription price.

Maybe it's the generation we're in. Society does things differently than they did 30 years ago. However, I believe that there is enough of an appetite in the general public for printed news. Believe it or not, there are people who are tired of the "yapping heads" on TV, and would rather read their news in print. More power to them. And, unlike online news, you can always save a clipping, and go back to it years down the road. Try finding a story that's twenty years old or more, online, for free. I'll bet it can't be done.

While newspapers are in fact sizing down, they're just going with the times. However, I still believe that if they print it, people will read. I think Ms. Brooks is wrong by saying that there needs to be a "journalism bailout." I think she's wrong when she seems to imply that newspapers will become nothing more than a paper filled with, "ads, entertainment features and crossword puzzles." The news is still the news, no matter how you tell it, and people will get it.

Thanks for reading.

Rosa Brooks' article can be found here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks9-2009apr09,0,7379164.column