On Tue, 17 Mar 2009, Doug Henwood wrote:
> > Today's argument is over the future of journalism (the thing worth
> > defending, newspapers only being a medium) in an environment in
> > which the flawed, but still useful print giants are shrinking at
> > a startling rate of speed.
>
> Yup. What annoys me, though, is the line that we don't need newspapers
> because the Internet will save us.
I'm totally with you on this. I think one thing that skews the debate though is the constant emphasis in these debates on local papers and local news. Most local coverage stinks, and maybe I'm wrong, but sometimes I think I can imagine a future where the internet provided better local coverage on an amateur basis. To me it seems like it's in national and international news -- which costs lots of money, and requires professional skills -- where professional journalism seems indispensable.
Michael