Save the Newspapers — Is It Time for Congress to Act?

I have to admit my bias — I love newspapers.

I love that one of my earliest memories as a kid was reading the newspaper to my dad (try to do that over a computer screen). I love waking up and picking up the newspaper on my front lawn (it so seldom makes it anywhere near my front door, btw). I love that there are smart writers, columnists and journalists on an array of topics that I can read on any given day.

The problem is that more and more people seem to love the convenience of free news over the Web over old-school, get-your-fingers-dirty, pick-it-up-on-the-front-lawn newspapers. As a result, the old-school traditional newspaper is dying a very fast death.

Now, in a strange and ironic turn of events, the very elected officials who are so often the targets of newspaper investigations and critiques are going to have to decide in the coming months whether to save them or let them die.

I vote save them. If not, we will all rue the day.

Why?

There is nothing — nothing — more important, I would argue, to a functioning and stable democracy than a functioning and stable media and newspaper industry. The Fourth Estate isn’t just an important part of a functioning democracy, it helps ensure our democracy.

We need our elected officials, our bureaucrats, to always keep in mind that everything they do can end up on the front page of The New York Times or The Washington Post. We need agencies and administrators to know that if they misspend or mismanage a department or agency, it will be exposed. We need candidates who run for the highest offices in the land to be challenged on what their ideas are, how much they will cost, or how will they govern. My worry is if we don’t have a viable newspaper industry, a critical piece in what helps keep our democracy strong will be lost — maybe forever.

As for those who don’t worry about this, just think which countries are democratic and which have a functioning and free media. In fact, it’s not by accident that when tyrants come to power or democracies are overthrown, their first target is the media. Bottom line — there is no greater check on power than when the public is informed of what the powerful are doing with that power.

Now, as someone who has worked in politics, who has not always enjoyed what a journalist would write about a campaign he was working on, I always understood and respected the critical role they played. Along the campaign trail, these journalists — and a lot of these newspaper reporters — with their sometimes infuriatingly critical and cynical questions — kept us honest. They kept the lesser of us from saying whatever they wanted and never having to worry about anyone finding out what was true or not. They kept us sharp and mindful that there was a profession whose sole responsibility was to challenge what we were doing.

Now, some believe that the Internet and Web-based journalists or bloggers can make up the difference if newspapers go the way of the dinosaur. I think there are some great Web-based journalists and bloggers who may be able to do this. But will they have the resources to do the kind of reporting that newspapers do (or used to do before these recent years of financial woes)? I just don’t think so. At least not in the foreseeable future.

My perspective — and I think most people agree — is that newspaper journalists play a critical role in our communities and our democracy — especially in the hardball game of American politics.

So our elected leaders will soon face a difficult choice. Do they let more newspapers die? Do they ignore the fact it may soon come to pass that more and more cities will no longer have a local newspaper? Do we and they ignore the fact that government corruption and malfeasance, if not incompetence and inefficiency, at all governmental levels, will undoubtedly increase if we don’t have a functioning and healthy Fourth Estate?
Do we potentially let newspapers like The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times and so many others just disappear with nothing to replace them?

Or do we accept the fact that while we don’t always like what they do, and there will always be people who decry their bias or lack thereof, we need to figure out a way to save them?

We need to save the newspapers, because saving them may just help save (or strengthen) the very democracy so many of us who work in politics cherish.

As for how we save them? Well, to be honest, I wish I knew the easy answer.

It may be as simple as everyone buying a newspaper again. But I have a feeling it won’t be that easy. Whatever the answers are, it is time for Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, to start thinking about what can be done to save this industry before it’s too late.