The State of Journalism

Oh look! It’s another article about the decline of journalism! Okay, I’ll keep it short and sweet.

It’s the age of billionaires buying failing newspapers (see: the LA Times, The Washington Post). We all know why: people are reading less news. Trust is eroded, and people are informing themselves more easily elsewhere, like social media. Still, high-quality journalism remains the best outlet to receive in-depth, nuanced information. We do have to be careful: The Washington Post was recently mired in scandal after its billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos, refused to let the editorial board endorse a candidate for President, against precedent. And WaPo is highly respected and well-established (it even broke the Watergate Scandal in 1972). While I have my own opinions on this decision, it’s very unnerving that the Post finds itself steered by one of the richest men in the world, who has an agenda of his own. Even worse is the state of local news. It’s a vicious cycle where the worse the state of local journalism is, the less readers there are, and so less people care about local issues and politics (which can make just as much impact as federal- and state-level issues), and so less people read the local news. My point is this: read the news, people! The local papers, too. You’ll keep them alive. Be nice to journalists. We’ll miss them if they go.