The Scary Truth About Newspapers

The story in yesterday's Globe and Mail about the shrinkage and looming disappearance of newspapers delved into the scope of the problem and why citizen journalism and blogs — while valuable in their own right — simply cannot replace reporting and, perhaps most importantly, investigative journalism. Here are some highlights:

"The blogosphere is full of people with opinions, but the facts have to come from somewhere. If the [San Francisco] Chronicle were to close its doors, all of this would be gone." (Nathan Ballard, press strategist for the SF mayor, quoted in the article)

Many online news sources, such as the popular Huffington Post, have a parasitic relationship with newspapers, either linking to their content or using it as a springboard for analysis, commentary and criticism. Almost all lack the heft to do in-depth or investigative reporting, whether locally, nationally or globally — a perfect situation for political corruption.

"Not to be overly nostalgic, but the paper form does something that online doesn't do." (Aurora Wallace, a newspaper historian at NYU, quoted in the article)

"I think you already have elected officials getting away with close to murder, and I think you would have even more of that. There is no oversight whatsoever. It would be awful — I can't imagine." (Lydia Chavez, journalism professor at Berkeley, working on MissionLocal.org, quoted in the article)

The situation leaves me, to put it mildly, worried. News has been free for so long now on the Internet that I'm not sure how papers will be able to charge for content without getting lots of backlash. And then there's the always prescient advertising conundrum. What's next?