OPINION . Loose Canon

Armageddon Question

Great journalism is no longer profitable.

Published: Nov 4, 2009

I've never received a public blessing before. Much less one that extended to my children (of whose existence I'm unaware).

But I got a hearty benediction from Chris Satullo, who recently moderated a panel at WHYY on the Future of News Media in Philadelphia. Satullo blessed me for my response to the Armageddon question: What should happen if Philly's leading dailies die? (Sharing the panel were Daily News' Sandra Shea, Matt Golas of planphilly.com and Joey Sweeney of philebrity.com.)

As creditors of the bankrupt Inquirer and Daily News sharpen their knives, our dailies could be decimated. Should that happen — as I told the audience of some 125 from Young Involved Philadelphia — the government and foundations should jump in and pump up public media. So Satullo — formerly of the Inky, now at WHYY — was thrilled by the idea of a big bailout of public media. But, he sighed, that isn't likely.

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Last year, said Satullo, an unnamed foundation (probably Pew, who declined official comment) estimated it would take $3 million to $4 million a year for WHYY to run a basic, local news Web service. As such, it was financially unsustainable.

When Satullo asked, "Who's going to pay for us [journalists]?" I was tempted to suggest that his boss, Bill Marrazzo, whose yearly compensation tops $750,000, could spare some change. But even if Marrazzo did the right thing, journalism for profit is essentially unsustainable. Why would anyone pay for journalism when they can get the news for free?

Let me explain: Journalism is the process that produces news. And it costs good money to do good journalism, to uncover truth and hold the powerful accountable.

Before digital media, newspapers could turn a profit on a piece of journalism, in that small space of time between its publication and its absorption as news. But today, the transition from profitable journalism to unprofitable news is nearly instantaneous.

Germany is considering "copyrighting" journalism. But like information, journalism "wants" to be free. If journalism is, as it's said, history written in a hurry, can you really sequester history?

Maybe, at least for a little time, publishers like Rupert Murdock and Brian Tierney hope, who are considering putting their journalism behind a pay-to-view wall. My prediction on paid news is it ain't gonna work. That horse has already left the barn.

Journalism can be saved only if it's treated like a public necessity, like clean air and public parks. America should do what works in Britain — which funds the BBC with a tax on every television set. It should be independent, and not subject to political whim.

It will be a hard sell, for sure. A new Pew survey pegs the public's view of news outlets at an all-time low. But in the same survey, almost three-quarters also said that closing a local newspaper would be an important loss. Even among the file-sharing generation — 18 to 29 — some 39 percent cited newspapers as a major source of local news. And newspapers, as everyone knows, are the foundation for other kinds of media.

There's clearly a yearning even among the young for quality journalism. Now we just need to accept that quality journalism is a public necessity that should be paid for by the public.

Weigh in at citypaper.net/canon or schimmel.com.

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Comments

Bruce is right that a clean press is as necessary to a healthy politics as clean air is to public health. Ronald Reagan's gratuitous destruction of Equal Time was the fatal final step towards the monetization ofour politics. Money now is the only "free" speech. Big Money has led to the squalid Rushification of our political discourse. I listen daily to the World Service of the BBC and could foresee not missing American print media.
by Patrick D. Hazard on November 5th 2009 1:06 AM (18 days ago)

Already submitted.
by Patrick D.Hazard on November 5th 2009 1:08 AM (18 days ago)

LOL
Come on Bruce.
I didn't see any mention of the CBS Evening News, or WPVI 6, or any other of our local TV news outlets in your article?
Do they not count?
It sounds like your argument is solely directed toward newspapers but I see no mention of the Caulkins chain?
Or some of the other local newspapers across the country that are flourishing.
In fact Bruce, if you ferried on over to NAJP.org and did a little research, you would learn that many newspapers are doing well because they saw a few years back this thing called the Internet.
The also have a middle of the road editorial balance.
And Bruce, there is truth in this.
You just have to open your mind and see the many different views of the business landscape.
by Harry Erney on November 10th 2009 7:10 PM (12 days ago)

harry -- actually local television station, including WPVI, are losing audience. local news just isn't the cash cow it used to be, and that's because once it's published or broadcast it becomes common property. the business landscape for media may be expanding. but not for journalism, which is being practiced more in non-profit settings, or in profit/non-profit collaborations. check out the story in the Times on deep sea pollution. paid in part by spot.us.
by bruce schimmel on November 11th 2009 11:44 AM (11 days ago)

Is the news industry advocating the government to pay for the news industry because it thinks it is good policy or because it is something they want?

The fact that question can be raised is the reason why the government shouldn't be the one feeding the press.
by Adam Lang on November 15th 2009 6:37 PM (7 days ago)


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