Journalism is Waning...

I also came across an opinion piece earlier today that discussed how journalism is declining because people do not value true journalistic reporting today as much as they did in the past. The writer, Michael Gerson, argues that people do not want real news, so therefore cable networks and many bloggers give people watered down versions of the news. As Gerson puts it, "Makeup is cheaper for guests than actual reporting."

He also raises an important issue that I feel is worth noting. While independent media is definitely on the rise and is a fantastic and necessary counterpart to mainstream journalism, it does, for the most part, lack something the mainstream press has: Money. While an indy news outlet can bring down government officials and expose wrongdoing here in the U.S., most do not have the finances to send a reporter into a war zone or overseas to cover a crisis. While there's much to be said about the quality of mainstream reporting from a war zone, the fact still remains, in my opinion, that any reporting is better than no reporting at all. An independent blogger with his or her own Web site probably doesn't have the money to cover a story like those, so for that reason mainstream reporters still have a necessary place in the world, despite the turn towards Internet journalism.