“A good newspaper is a nation talking to itself.”
Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Nowadays, it’s a busy time to be a reporter.
First thing yesterday morning, as
usual, I opened my ipad to see what was going on in the world. I was met by the
horror in London – the catastrophic
fire in the high-rise, a tragedy involving hundreds of people.
Later in my car, I turned on the
radio and learned of the shooting outside the Capitol at the ball field in Alexandria,
Virginia – another American madman with a
gun, this time the motive seemed to be completely political with the targets
members of Congress.
On my return trip, the reporting
was now about another shooter, this one on the other side of the country, at a UPS
facility in California.
After dinner, I settled in front of
the television and in between house renovations and tiny home building on HGTV,
I checked for developments with the victims in the congressional shooting but
found yet another breaking story.
Just when it seemed impossible to
top Wednesday’s events, the crawl across the screen announced “Washington Post:
President Trump Under Investigation for Obstruction of Justice.”
Yes, most of my news yesterday came
through electronic media, but in a world that for years has been tolling the
death knell for print journalism, what was arguably the biggest story of the
day came from a newspaper founded on December
6, 1877.
“Were it left to me to decide if we should have a government
without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a
moment to prefer the latter.”
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
I love newspapers--especially these days.
ReplyDeleteI agree -- a well-reported news article is a joy (or a horror, depending on the subject matter) to read. TV I am more ambivalent about!
ReplyDeleteevery year the number of mass shootings increases and this year is no different. I think I saw the number 147 yesterday so far this year out of 166 days (counting today) and still the gun nuts don't see a problem with complete unrestricted access to guns.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it seems healthier to turn off the TV news and just read the printed news. Then at least we don't have to view the bloodied bodies nor do we have to listen to fifteen eye witness accounts of the same event. We are in some really sad times right now.
ReplyDeleteThat's an awful lot of bad news in one day!
ReplyDeleteI prefer to read things in the paper too, I get more time to digest it that way and if I need to I can read it again. Can't do that with TV news where everything is a 30 second sound byte.
I remember in middle school we were charged to write an essay on which was most important for getting news...the radio, the TV, the newspaper or a newsmagazine. One was mediate and others more in-depth. It was an interesting conundrum.
ReplyDeleteI used to read print newspapers, but they are becoming less and less a part of my life. I read them online, though: The New York Times, the New Yorker, Washington Post, the Atlantic. I peruse the local paper at the coffee shop but don't buy one any more. :-)
ReplyDelete