Newspaper & Mailroom
Newspaper Newsrooms Must Be Preserved
Saturday 07. June 2008 - Newspapers are under tremendous economic stress, but the newspaper newsroom must be preserved if freedom of information is to be protected, the publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times said.
“The newsroom is the issue,” said Cyrus Freidheim, president and CEO of the Sun-Times Media Group. “The real critical mass of journalists are in newspapers. So we have to figure out how to make a transition that keeps newspapers alive.”
Freidheim was one of four leading Chicago journalists speaking Wednesday at the National Press Club’s Centennial Education Forum on the First Amendment, freedom of the press and the future of journalism. The forum at Columbia College in Chicago was part of a nationwide effort by the Club to talk about the core values of journalism during this rocky period of transition.
Renee Ferguson, a top investigative reporter for Chicago’s NBC News 5, said the biggest recent change has been the collapse in the separation between promotion and news.
“They were separated like Church and State,” she said. “Now I have to understand promotion; what people want to watch. I worry that we are getting too market driven. I want us to be a profession that relies on our best journalistic judgment.”
But Bill Adee, associate managing editor for innovation at the Chicago Tribune, said it is good for journalists to know what readers care about. As head of the Tribune online service, he can track which stories get the most hits.
“If you are doing a story, and you would not read that story yourself, you should stop,” he said. “Reporters should still pursue stories they think are important, but they should know what is popular.”
Young people still are looking for journalists to help them make sense out of the mass of information available on the Internet, said Vivian Vahlberg, managing director of the Media Management Center at Northwestern University.
A survey the center did of 90 people aged 17 to 22 found that “They want someone to separate the wheat from the chaff, to tell them what’s important. If they get on a site that they think is spinning them, they will get off.”
The panelists said the First Amendment is under attack by the courts that want journalists to reveal their sources.
“That’s why each news organization must stand up,” said Freidheim, whose paper is embroiled in a dispute with a judge that wants a reporter to release confidential information. “There’s no way to cover government without that protection.”
Added Ferguson, “The way things are now, you can’t promise to protect sources unless you are willing to go to jail.”
As part of its centennial celebration, the National Press Club, the world’s leading professional organization of journalists, will host similar panels in cities across the country.
Moderated by veteran national correspondent and former Club President Gil Klein, the panels will draw prominent journalists to talk about the changes in the industry and the core values of journalism.
“In this time of change, the Club thinks it’s important for people to understand the role of journalism in promoting democracy,” said Club President Sylvia Smith.
Each event includes a screening of the Club’s centennial documentary, “A Century of Headlines,” that looks at journalism’s past through the lens of the Club’s history.
The Club has partnered with the World Affairs Councils of America (www.worldaffairscouncils.org) and its 89 chapters nationwide as well as with journalism schools at leading colleges and universities to present these events through the end of the year.
This program is underwritten by a contribution from Aviva USA, one of the nation’s fastest-growing life insurers (www.AvivaUSA.com). The grant will pay for the distribution of 12,000 copies of the documentary and education materials as well as promotion of the forums.