Last week media experts John Nichols and Robert McChesney came to the Twin Cities to talk about their latest book “Death and life of American journalism”. Both authors visited the School of Journalism and Mass communication (SJMC) to lecture on the unprecedented state of the media while exploring the current journalism crisis.
The event was in SJMC Murphy Hall, one of the many Universities and colleges showcasing the book since its early release in January. The discussion revolved around the implications of journalism and how the craft is dying due to tremendous job losses in industries like newspapers. Both authors discussed beyond the conventional wisdom in which the internet is not entirely to blame rather the commercial journalism enterprise will not come back again.
“The point of the book is basically saying were in a crisis and the commercial system isn’t working,” said Robert W. McChenesney, Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois. “Philanthropists will not bail us out; technology will not work its magic. It is up to us and the path is government subsidies.”
McChenesney does not suggest government takeover since he’s are against it considering it’s not a bridgeable principle. He went on to provide how other democracies dealt with the situation and suggested the United States could explore new models in aiding American journalism.
To explore the possibility of subsidizing journalism they turned to Freedom House, a conservative pro-business group dedicated to rating different countries with the most freedom of the press and government censorship. Places like Sweden, Norway, Britain, Canada, Germany and many other democratic states have a per capita basis subsidy system. In addition, the United States with its present media system ranked 21st place in this study. In other words, compared to other democratic nations the press has less freedom and autonomy than those with a subsidized media.
The authors repeatedly mentioned to the students their book is not the solution to the problem. The urgency to start the discussion on Journalism was one of the precursors for writing their book. Also market system hasn’t work because of the rate of return on numerous traditional media outlets.
Newspapers saw print circulation losses accelerate in 2009, with a 25.6 percent drop in daily circulation since 2000. Advertising revenue for newspapers fell about 22 percent from a total of $38 billion, according to Journalism.org report (the Project for Excellence in Journalism).
“Last year we closed 140 newspapers across the United States. Those that managed to stay open were laying off employees at a rate of 1000 per month,” Said Robert Nichols, The Nation’s correspondent and the associate editor of the Capital Times in Madison. “The craft is dying on our watch, it’s a disaster! We are starting to lose the underpinning of the democratic experiment. “ Nichols talked about how the nation’s principles established during the American revolution aimed at laying out the civil liberties and the freedom of the press.
He referenced Thomas Jefferson and the founders because of their contributions to the American Revolution; how they shaped the democratic experiment. Specifically Jefferson said once in a while we have to look at whether our civic and democratic life is functioning, if it’s not it needs its own revolution.
The Director and Professor of the Journalism Center of SJMC Kathleen Hansen believed the media is in crisis, but not necessarily the craft of journalism. “We have the largest major for the College of Liberal Arts. There are over 1000 students that are interested in advertising and public relations, but the other half want to study journalism, “said Hansen.
She thinks the next phase in journalism is to figure out a way to pay for it, and understanding how important journalism is to a functioning society has never being higher than now.
The solutions to journalism still a work in progress. The book does engage the discussion, provide data, information, research and whether subsidies are the answer. With the current state of the press, the media revolution might be necessary in order to achieve true independent journalism. The government and the corporate companies have their own agenda, so it is necessary that our press be completely free of influence from both institutions.
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