As a news writing and editing major, my professors often ask my fellow classmates and I what will be the future of newspapers. Young people are not reading newspapers as much as older generations, and with easily accessible news on the Internet, will newspapers even be necessary in the future?
My response had always been that newspapers will be around forever, and people will always read and trust newspapers. Newspapers are an establishment in this country, just like taxes, baseball and apple pie.
Yet, a discussion in one of my non-major classes this week has me slightly worried about over-confidence in my future profession.
We were talking about media coverage of government, and it seems as though my classmates think that all media forms are bias, and blogs are the future of the news media. They cited specific newspapers they thought were biased in their coverage, and not just on the Opinion Page.
I was amazed and shocked. For the past 10 1/2 quarters, I have been taught that newspapers need to be objective. That's the point of a newspaper - to objectively bring the news to the consumers, who then can decide what they want to think. If the public then form opinions, and if they desire to express thoughts about the news, they can write letters to the editor, which are printed on Opinion Pages, such as this one. (Look down and to the left.)
Of course, newspapers cannot always be objective. In my media ethics class, we have been talking about to whom journalists should be loyal and if it's possible to be completely neutral. Journalists have to face a challenge daily to be as objective as possible - to completely separate themselves from whatever they are reporting, even if they would normally have strong opinions about the topic.
It's not possible to be completely neutral because everyone has opinions about everything - just talk to a political science major. But journalists have put themselves out in front of a public audience who has faith that they will remain neutral about everything and then will attack the reporters when they realize they have opinions, too.
I didn't understand how my peers thought newspapers were too subjective in their coverage, but thought blogs (Web logs, for those of you who are not Web-savvy) would be what people use in the future to get news.
Okay, blogs are not objective. Blogs are a way for anyone who knows how to work a computer to write his or her opinion and publish it online. Blogs are opinions. Blogs are not credible news sources - even though occasionally some bloggers get lucky.
My peers seemed to realize that not all blogs are credible, and their credibility could be determined by any sources the writers cited. Isn't that what makes a newspaper credible? Wouldn't you trust a reporter who quotes public officials in a story rather than a blog writer who is just throwing his or her opinion on the Internet because he or she has a modem?
I have heard conservatives complain that the media are too liberal and liberals complain that the media are too conservative. I have heard people complain because the media make them think about what is going on instead of just accepting things the way they are.
The media serve as a watchdog for the government. Without media coverage, things like Watergate, the Vietnam War, the Iran Contra affair, President McDavis' $41,250 bonus (which was 15 percent of his annual salary) and Coach Solich's drunk driving conviction would pass by unnoticed. And the public would be pissed if the media didn't cover it.
Despite the public's complaints about the media, I have faith in newspapers for the future.
Newspapers are public record. People will never look to blogs for factual information about important events in the future.
I'm not going into a career in newspapers for the money. I'm not expecting to make money in this career. (That's why I'm dating a guy who is working on getting a Doctorate in Economics.)
I'm going into a career in newspapers because I have faith in the industry, and I know in my lifetime, media will not become completely electronic. People still will want something to read while they are watching the baseball game or eating apple pie.
- Cheryl Sadler is a senior journalism major. Send her an e-mail at cs334202@ohiou.edu.
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Cheryl Sadler
