We Want Media

I think everyone can agree that the news media is losing viewers, listeners, and readers. Yes? Yes. In a January/February 2005 Ideas and Reviews essay from the Columbia Journalism Review, Evan Cornog writes: “Ignorance of current events and indifference to the traditional news media are epidemic.” The essay is, of course, a bit outdated. However, the conclusions it draws are still relevant to 2007.

The traditional media are having a hard time keeping business alive, partly because of us, younger customers. Apparently, we read fewer newspapers, tune out when the news is on TV, and simply don’t listen to news radio. Of course, some journalism students would beg to differ. On the whole, though, I think we can say that younger people are less up-to-date on current events.

This is true and it is devastating. Many young people claim they turn to the Internet as their information source, but information to them does not mean news. Serious news is not explored but rather niche interests such as celebrity gossip. C’mon, guys. We need to shake out of this. News is interesting and news is crucial to our culture. We are not going to school simply to get jobs. We should be striving to be better and more informed citizens. Corny, I know, but nevertheless true. So, break out the New York Times, listen to NPR, or tune into PBS. No reality TV show will compare to reality news.