Sunday, April 17, 2016

Less Journalism, Less Justice

The cutbacks on newspapers are affecting people's lives.

Truth is always hard to dig out of the flood of information and misinformation, but with fewer newspapers and fewer reporters and editors on the remaining papers, our chances of encountering important facts and countering injustice diminish.

Consider this article in The Nation by Dale Maharidge:

http://www.thenation.com/article/these-journalists-dedicated-their-lives-to-telling-other-peoples-stories/


And this column by Margaret Sullivan, "Public Editor No. 5 Is Yesterday's News" in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/public-editor/margaret-sullivan-new-york-times-public-editor.html

Sullivan says the New York Times is finding it hard to support its "newsroom staff of more than 1,300."


Other newspapers have already cut staffing drastically--the Los Angeles Times had an editorial-side staff of  1,200 or so as the year 2000 began.  It is now about 500.  

Fewer reporters and editors, less reporting of injustice or anything else.

Less chance for citizens to understand their world, from business to government, and less chance to catch crooks and killers.

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