I fear for the newspaper. It hasn’t escaped the notice of virtually anyone who is paying attention that newspapers are dying—early buyouts, layoffs, consolidation, and outright closing abound. Anecdotal evidence surely supports the notion that the newspaper is not long for this world. For example, I don’t know anyone my kids’ age who subscribes to a newspaper. They all get their news from either throwaway commuter papers (like the Metro, which publishes in a number of cities worldwide), or from the web, or from The Daily Show.
Some people are all too willing to say good riddance to the old style of journalism. They point out that the internet allows for information to flow faster and with fewer barriers than with print technology. Often, the proliferation of the blogosphere has been cited as further spelling the doom of print. Bloggers are more nimble, and can quickly cover the news as it happens.
As a nascent blogger myself, I say this: Phooey! Before I first started blogging, I surfed around to see what blogs looked like. While many special interest blogs were fascinating, with people waxing rhapsodic over their peculiar obsessions, the “news” and “gadget” blogs were another story. These bloggers weren’t reporters who went out and gathered news. Rather, they were regurgitators who simply linked to other stories that hard working reporters had gathered and then added their own snarky comments to make it their own.
Don’t get me wrong, I like a snarky comment as much as the next person. And in the history of this blog, I have not been above this type of behavior. But it is clear that without the kind of in depth and thoughtful reporting that goes on out there, the “news” blogosphere would implode. Imagine a world with no New York Times, London Times, Washington Post, etc. If all of the news we received was from untrained monkeys with typing skills (much like myself) who aren’t actually reporting anything, where would we be? Without Woodward and Bernstein, would Nixon have served his full term? What about the Pentagon papers?
I recognize that newspapers won’t die completely—the best of them have excellent web editions—but I mostly fear for the day when I won’t be able to hold some newsprint in my hand over my morning bagel. Not to put too fine a point on it, but there are certain places where I won’t take New York Times iPhone app, if you know what I mean.
All this by way of saying that while I am rarely someone who toots his own horn, preferring instead to let others who recognize my greatness speak for me, today I simply can’t resist. A few weeks ago I wrote a post called “Barack on Track,” in which I laid out 1) the Bush war on science, and 2) the hope that Obama will restore the scientific method to the decision in the White House. It was, as always, a well-reasoned and exceptionally erudite post (you’re welcome). Today, Olivia Judson in the New York Times wrote and excellent blog called “Back to Reality,” that makes many of the same points. I am honored and just a wee bit humbled to know that the Times and I agree on such an important point, especially since I thought of it first.
Incidentally, those of you that point out that her post is better written and has better citations are missing the point.
Dear Hideo:
Your symptoms are shared by people other than your race, to wit; many executives complain to me of of …., delayed Borgarigmus, and shortness of pants…long known as a source of
Theodore’s disesae, running sores, and Athlete’s Foot.
Left by Dr. Whiplash on January 2nd, 2009