State of the Union: Democracy and the Web Press
March 15th, 2009
Connecting the Dots
by Glynn Wilson
I almost lost my breakfast in my plate as I watched CNN’s John King interview Dick Cheney on his “State of the Union” show this Sunday. It made me want to get rid of my television set, reinforcing an idea that seems to be growing among the American population.
As newspaper circulation continues in free fall and as we begin to acknowledge that broadcast news let us down as well as newspaper reporting over the past eight years, more and more I’m hearing people say they would rather have a high speed Internet connection than a cable TV package or a newspaper subscription any day.
I mean who gives a damn what Cheney has to say at this point? Is he the only guest King could get to assess the state of the nation? What a joke.
More and more young people are getting their view of the world from shows such as the Daily Show on Comedy Central, where this week Jon Daily took on Jim Cramer of CNBC for his failed coverage of the economic meltdown. This is a video series worth watching in case you missed it.
Jim Cramer in Daily Show Showdown
It’s no wonder newspapers are dying. As their circulations fall and they lay off more news workers, they become even less interesting.
If you are interested in catching the latest stories on the dying newspaper industry, check out these recent stories from Reuters and Editor and Publisher magazine.
U.S. newspaper circulation declines accelerate
The Rocky Mountain News may be the biggest U.S. newspaper to fold in a long time, but…
Look at the latest figures for newspaper circulation in Alabama. Then compare our online readership numbers to newspapers with a long history such as the Tuscaloosa News (31,000), the Anniston Star (23,000) and the Decatur Daily (20,000).
Last week, while I was on the road doing original reporting on several important stories out of East Tennessee, 36,685 unique visitors (readers) hit our site and viewed 57,976 pages.
So after only four years in business, we have more readers than any of the medium-sized newspapers in this state. One of the reasons may be the strength of our content and the power of our voice verses the weak kneed content of the newspapers.
None of the newspapers in Alabama do much in the way of investigative journalism, except for the Newhouse papers in Birmingham and Mobile, and they only investigate Democrats.
Newspaper reporters have been playing it safe to keep their jobs for so long, it becomes a self-fulfilling deathwatch to observe their free-fall. It would be nice to see a single newspaper company decide to take a more aggressive approach to their survival strategy.
Unfortunately, all I see is even more playing it safe. There is not a single story worth reading and linking to in any Alabama newspaper today, and believe me, I checked around. It’s sad and pathetic.
This gives me no great pleasure to report, since I am a firm believer in the fact that for American democracy to survive, a free press is a must. But as you can see from our news page today, we turned to the online only Alternet for some interesting and important Sunday stories since we couldn’t find anything of particular interest on the wires or in the New York Times or Washington Post.
More Than Race, the South is About Exploiting Workers
Economic Mess May Kill 100,000 Non-Profits
Financial Crisis Might Lead to Legal Pot
One of the reasons I took a look at this issue for a Sunday column today is because I have been asked to speak at a journalism conference in April on the future of Democracy and the Web Press in Arkansas. My paper will be posted here when the time comes, and the trip will give me another opportunity to go camping and conduct some Mobile Journalism (MoJo) from the road.
This road trip will include a visit to the Big Woods of Arkansas, where the search for the illusive ivory-billed woodpecker is still underway.
Stay tuned. The newspapers and TV news may suck, but Democracy will survive — and the news will get covered, at least on the Web Press.
March 16th, 2009 at 8:35 am
If you start from the assumption that most large institutions in our society today are essentially scams of some kind – producing no real value for anyone outside the immediate embrace of those institutions – then it becomes easier to see nonsense for what it is.
The web press – Locust Fork one of the regional stars there – has in a few short years debunked the establishment propaganda agenda of the “mainstream media” to an extent never possible when alternative news, analysis and opinion sources were limited to a few, poorly-circulated magazines and newspapers.
My own pet belief is that we have entered an era of a new paradigm, the first principle of which is understanding things at the core. The second, and equally important, maxim is truth. The third, militating in favor of soft power over hard power as the governing idea of human relationships.
This shift is not even remotely suspected by most in the “mainstream media.” They are uniquely unprepared to detect and explain it, and continue casting events in the same way, with the same analysis, as they always have.
A good analogy would be a kindergarten student asked to explain neurosurgery: after observing such an operation, the typical youngster would likely explain that someone in a blue scrub suit cut up someone else’s head while wearing a mask.
The web press, on the other hand, and a very few other venues, would explain clearly the patient is having brain surgery, why the surgery is being done, and what prompted it.
Nearly alone among media sources today, the web press, including many opinion and analysis bloggers, understand the paradigm shift, although, like any good group of small-d democrats, have different takes on what it means and what to do about it.
The web press will be remembered, decades and centuries hence, as the information-heroes of this era. I am not certain how the “mainstream media” will be remembered, if at all.
March 16th, 2009 at 10:55 am
[...] To read the full column, visit our sister site, The Locust Fork News-Journal. [...]
March 18th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Sorry to lag, as is usual for me, but Yana, as usual makes a set of cogent observations. Glynn unintentionally reminds me to send Locust Fork another check at the end of this month so that we can continue to have this better alternative to our thoroughly compromised traditional media.
I’ve fallen behind the last few days, having made a couple of spectacular hauls from local library – including Naomi Klein’s ‘The Shock Doctrine,’ which I requested, they ordered, received, and notified me it was there reserved for me faster than I could have gotten it mail order myself. Support your local library! A public library, when well run, remains our window to the larger world.