Amnesia in the Face of Crisis

It’s fascinating to witness the public reaction as the newspaper industry implodes. Young people are largely indifferent while older generations seem to think a world without newspapers as we know them means journalism will cease to exist. (For some great thoughts about why we shouldn’t equate the death of newspapers with the death of journalism, see Yochai Benkler’s article in the New Republic here.)

While no one knows for sure what will happen to the newspaper industry, it is clear that something has to give. Clay Shirky wrote a brilliant blog post about the “sickness” that has taken over the newspaper industry because people refuse to face the reality of demise. But it is not just that people are refusing to accept change and devise truly innovative models for journalism in the digital age. Amazingly, it is as if we have suddenly forgotten everything that has been wrong with journalism for the past 20 years.

In a post on BoingBoing, Dan Gillmor proposes a “mega-merger” of eight news organizations into one giant newsroom that will charge for content up-front, while providing free access to archives online. His hail-mary proposal is thoughtful, and he answers various critiques of the model in the post. But fundamentally, this idea is simply an exaggerated form of the corporate media model we have had for decades.

Currently, a handful of companies own every single major news organization in the country. Arguments about the merits of the so-called synergies and efficiencies created by multi-media conglomerates are hardly new, and the evidence based on massive media consolidation over the past two decades belies them. In their efforts to increase the bottom line, multi-media conglomerates have consistently produced watered-down, sensationalized journalism. They have also leveraged their control over multiple media platforms to promote or censor various story lines to their benefit. (For a recent example, see NBC censorship of the Jon Stewart/Jim Cramer face-off on its other networks.) If we were limited to a single source of news, there is no reason to believe the current failures of the media – the bastardization of journalism, corporate censorship, and a pro-business agenda – would be erased. In fact, logic tells us a true corporate monopoly would only make matters worse.

The Internet is forcing us to rethink the traditional news model. We should use this opportunity to remedy the failures of journalism, not accentuate them.