American Press Institute summit conference has concluded that there is no way out without a bailout. And Jon Fine has posted a ‘tongue in cheek’ bailout proposal on his Business Week blog.
Such talk was inevitable given the dynamics that face the news media today. Even as they struggle to reformulate an entire profession and industry. (pdf download) One idea being passed around is that some news coverge should be formulated by ‘experts,’ not journalists, as the subject matter is becoming more complex — enter the blogger.
Why, if the press had been living up to their responsibilities in a free society, and using the powers granted to them, did they not investigate this financial debacle brewing for quite a while now? If they had merely done their job, we might not be in this crisis. They may have dug their own hole.
“There they are,” he declaimed, “those underpaid scriveners, slovenly, gin-soaked, easily corrupted, ill-clad and unkempt, malodorous and lacking either grace or charm. And yet, we who recognize the Three Estates, understand there is a Fourth Estate, the press, more powerful than all the rest.” (Quote from James Brady, Forbes Magazine.)
Edmund Burke
“In old days men had the rack. Now they have the press. That is an improvement certainly. But still it is very bad, and wrong, and demoralising. Somebody – was it Burke? – called journalism the fourth estate. That was true at the time, no doubt. But at the present moment it really is the only estate. It has eaten up the other three. The Lords Temporal say nothing, the Lords Spiritual have nothing to say, and the House of Commons has nothing to say and says it. We are dominated by Journalism.”
The Soul of Man – Oscar Wilde
In spite of their structural and financial troubles, they have immense powers, and responsibilities. They are supposed to be our watchdogs.
