PressEthic

Layoffs, buyouts, hiring freezes, bureau cuts have all become common occurrences in our nation’s newsrooms. With newspaper circulations down, budgets are being slashed across the board. But now some journalists are fighting back.

What if local newspapers stopped printing national and international news? What if smaller newspapers consolidated their already scarce resources to focus on more local news? What if those interested in politics and foreign affairs simply went on online? What if this ceased to be a 'what if' scenario and became reality?

Copies of a Los Angeles high school newspaper were pulled from shelves and apologies were issued after an anonymous article compared predominantly black students at a local restaurant to “a pack of monkeys.” In the aftermath, it appears the students on the paper learned a valuable lesson in responsible journalism.

Recently, the Star Tribune was sued by a gay group following the Minneapolis newspaper’s refusal to print an advertisement for a 2004 gay pride event, which the newspaper sponsored. The advertisement depicted two men kissing. I enjoy living in New York City in an era of unabashed political correctness. Sure, every now and then I hear a racial slur, or a derogatory comment about women. But overall racism, sexism and religious intolerance have become unacceptable. So why hasn’t homophobia?

It came as a shock when Walid Hassan, an actor on the popular Iraqi comedy television show “Caricature”, was shot to death. “Caricature” was described in the Washington Post as (“Iraq's version of "Saturday Night Live.") Hassan’s death may have a very negative impact on the local media, as more reporters fear the consequences of honest reporting and shy away from the job – or produce tainted copy. Without a free press, Iraq has only as slim chance of setting up a free democracy.

In era when newspapers are rapidly losing their readers and advertisers to online news sites, a new deal with Yahoo may be the answer to their prayers.

Democrat Sam Duncan won his reelection campaign for the Union County, North Carolina’s Soil and Water Conservation board. Democrats dutifully helped the candidate by distributing literature and running newspaper advertisements. The problem was that nobody knew that Duncan had died a month earlier.

Have you heard the big news? I’m not talking about Saddam Hussein being sentenced to death by hanging or the Democrats winning the House and the Senate. I’m not even referring to Donald Rumsfeld stepping down as Secretary of Defense. No, I mean Britney Spears filing for divorce from hubby Kevin Federline. And, gasp!, Reese Witherspoon filing for divorce a day later.

In response to sagging newspaper sales and online competition, Gannet Co. Inc. has decided to change the way it reports news. This change, already implemented at other major news outlets throughout the world, may just save the industry.

After years of hearing how the newspaper industry is on a steady trajectory all the way down, with readerships declining, circulations in the toilet, and staffs being slashed, there is hope. According to a Nov. 3rd article in Newsweek, newspapers are still profitable.

As a graduate student in the journalism department at New York University, I know that on some level I am delaying the inevitable: finding a job. I knew the discouraging state of the industry when I enrolled in school. Yet, I’m no delusional idealist. Someone will give me a job within the profession that I love. Right?

Free newspapers, available throughout New York City and handed out in front of subway stations, are being blamed for clogging the city’s subways. Yet, I wonder if the major newspapers are actually concerned with subway problems and delays, or are actively seeking to damage their competitors.

Democrat Michael Acuri is running against Republican Ray Meier in upstate New York for a Congressional seat. As Election Day nears, the campaigns appear to be heating up with Republicans running a controversial advertisement that several television stations are refusing to air.

Nielson Media Research, a company that monitors the numbers of people watching individual television shows, announced in June its intention to track commercial watchers in November. According to an article in The New York Times a “battle worthy of a ‘Survivor’ episode” quickly ensued.

Journalists embedded with US troops in Iraq have reached their lowest numbers since the 2003 war began, according to an Oct. 15 Associated Press article. I’m still unclear as to whether this is a good or bad thing.