THE NEAR DEATH OF ANOTHER GREAT NEWSPAPER

On Sunday, (January 6, 2013) CBS’s Sixty Minutes, did a piece on the near death of the New Orleans Times Picayune, a paper that has been in print since 1837.  The “Pic”, as it is known to New Orleanians, has gone from being a daily paper to one that is put out three days a week.  During the rest of the week, news will be provided at NOLA.com, the newspaper’s website.  New Orleans is a city of some 360,740 at last estimate—about the size of Prince William County.  Here in Prince William County, we have experienced the complete death of our local newspaper, The Journal Messenger, which printed its final edition on December 30, 2012.  We are left with something called, Prince William Today, a weekly newspaper serving the residents and businesses of Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park.  In addition, there is a website INSIDENOVA.com owned by the same paper.  The Washington Post and Washington Times will provide some local coverage, but not a daily paper. 

Citizens of Prince William County, the ninth richest county in the Commonwealth of Virginia, are left to fend for themselves for local news and must resort to several local blogs for supposed “news” of what is taking place in the county.  Several of the bloggers seem to delight in the fact they now have unopposed access to the local population to express their opinions.  Note, I am not saying they are reporting the news as we generally think of it.  They are publishing opinions, pure and simple.  They are not bound by any editorial rules—only their conscience, which may or may not be of any value to consumers.  I believe I can vouchsafe say that none of these folks are journalists; i.e., they have no formal education in journalism.  One blogger proudly points out that he has procured a New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, which is fine, but it still does not make him a journalist.  He and other bloggers are simply opinion writers.  They have a point of view they intend to foist off on the public as “news” but a closer inspection reveals a firm bias in each case.  And to add insult to injury, many of these bloggers have chose to hide behind some nome de plume or to simply remain Anonymous.  True journalists, it seems, are always seeking a "byline"--they want people to know who is putting something forth that has passed muster as news--not an opinion.  I recently challenged an new blogger on this very idea and, as might be expected, he says content is more important than a name.  Such self-importance is underwhelming at best.  

Those of us who have computers or one of the new tablets can always subscribe to what has been substituted for newsprint “news”, but there are literally thousands of folks who will have to depend solely on the radio and television for their “news”.  It truly is  a sad state of affairs that in this age of information, printed information is dying a slow and painful death.