The links for this week all focus on the future of journalism. Most of them support and highlight the same theories that I have heard repeatedly throughout my four years as an undergraduate student. These theories involve adapting quicker to new media outlets, making money through advertising and/or charging for online news content. On the most part, they are optimistic about the future of journalism.
The video that impacted me the most was the video by John Nichols. His outlook on the journalism industry is rather pessimistic. Nichols spoke about the rate that journalists are losing their jobs and said that this rate is increasing every year.
Nichols believes that the press needs government intervention to stay alive. He believes that the private sector is harming the industry and that we need U.S. tax dollars to help us.
This is the first time I hear of such an extreme solution. Having government intervention could be detrimental to free, unbiased speech. If the government begins to subsidize the industry, then it could influence the way news is written. One of the ethical guidelines in the SPJ code of ethics is to remain free of the influence of outside forces. This could be very possible if we become dependent on the government for funds.
At the same time, Nichols gave a very convincing speech. He spoke about government intervention as the ONLY alternative to saving our industry. At the rate we are going, he could even be right. It scares me to think it might really be the only solution. I’m not sure if that would be the best solution, but it at least it provides an active plan. For now, this is the most revolutionary idea I’ve hear, and it might be the only one that will impact on the economic aspect of the industry.
The question that remains now is: will it compromise our values to report the absolute truth?
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