A strong, responsible press is fundamental to a functioning democracy. It is more important than Wall Street, or the banks, or the auto industry, folks. I believe the demise of newspapers is far more devastating than just about any other single ingredient in this economic meltdown.
TV news, in its increasingly sound byte and info-tainment format, is NOT a substitute for the in-depth journalism and investigative commitment that is only found in our newspapers.
Blogs are NOT newspapers; they can be anybody, anywhere, with information, true or false; and accountability is hard to come by. Even Internet news takes on a sameness, with little or no answerability as to its sources.
Newspapers are THE neighborhood watch group, the people who speak truth to power for us, and who hold those in power responsible to we, the people. Nothing could play better into the hands of a repressive or terrorist agenda than the collapse of diverse, healthy, competitive, local and regional, bricks and mortar news sources.
I hope you can find 21 minutes to give your attention to 150 years of service:
Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.
YES, I agree, we need to support the truth telling newspapers. Here is one of them: The Order of the Earth, http://www.theorderoftheearth.com/
This is a locally produced independent not-for-profit newspaper about the earth and the environment. I highly recommend that everyone support it with a subscription or a donation! You can read my article on P. 13 of the March 2009 issue by downloading it from the website! As a creative outlet on the path of the Artist’s Way, maybe you want to submit poetry, stories, or information for publication?
Starflower*
Wow! This is so great, Starflower! Thank you thank you!
– Beth
as someone who is a professional journalist (and a long-time, ardent Pagan), i do thank you for understanding, Beth. oftentimes, people don’t see the value of a thing until it’s gone.
Thank you so much for this link. I was unaware of the closing of the Rocky Mountain Press.
The library where I work recently lost our 2 children’s librarians in an automobile accident in Denver. The RMP published one of the most accurate and touching articles about these women and the magnitude of loss that our small library has suffered. I read it and emailed it to all my colleagues– we have cherished it.
I feel a great sorrow at the demise of another independent newspaper. So much consolidation of information in the hands of so few cannot be good for our society as a whole.
On a completely different note- thanks for the series on Artist’s Way. I read the book almost a decade ago and am very happy to be doing it again.
thanks
Susan