This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
It's painful to watch the decline of a once-proud profession. Especially when that profession is your own.
Newspapers struggle to survive. Staffs are so thin that one marvels at the dedication of the few journalists who remain, working long hours at low pay. In the case of The Salt Lake Tribune, it appears the Tribune's long-time business partner, LDS Church-owned Deseret News, surreptitiously renegotiated an agreement established decades ago by thoughtful community leaders to ensure two healthy newspapers. The new agreement with the Tribune's hedge-fund owners greatly reduced the paper's news gathering resources.
Television news departed from value-based journalism years ago. A local station turned a so-called "reporter" into a citizen advocate. That's a legitimate function for a TV station, but not for a news department. My own former employer, KSL, focuses on "feel good" news, which is not journalism at all. The station actually had a so-called "reporter" set a trap for a thief and then run after the thief on camera. The station also videotaped truck drivers holding cell phones and called it "investigative journalism." It may be entertainment, but it is not journalism.
A few commercial radio stations, such as KSL, still provide news but most responsibility for radio journalism has been ceded to public radio stations.
It began during the Reagan administration, when money boys were allowed to accumulate dozens of newspapers and broadcast stations in order to bleed them of whatever local profit could be siphoned off. These conglomerate owners knew nothing about journalism, cared nothing about traditional journalism values and thought local community service was an unnecessary extravagance.
The money boys also created the Walmarts of the retail and manufacturing worlds, driving local retailers and manufacturers out of business. Those local retailers and manufacturers were not only the backbone of the community, but they also bought much of the advertising in newspapers and on radio and television. In addition, they supported thousands of local advertising agencies across the country. The retail/manufacturing barons of the late 20th and early 21st centuries make the robber barons of the 19th century look like amateurs.
Adding to the decline of journalism is the neglect of professional training at colleges and universities throughout America. Journalism values and journalism history are rarely taught these days. Most college journalism departments have been subordinated by departments of communication.
That's like transforming a department of surgery into a department of appendectomy. It's backward. Communication is a function of journalism, not the other way around. But college administrators think "communication" sounds more academic than "journalism." Nonsense!
The nation needs the values and traditions of good journalism. That's how we keep from jumping off political cliffs. That's how we keep political and business leaders honest. The nation also needs the power of mass-market advertising. That's how we keep our consumer-based economy humming. You can't have mass marketing without good journalism. And you can't have good journalism based on the narrow individual interests of the internet.
As Thomas Jefferson said: "A nation that expects to be ignorant and free expects what never was and never will be."
The Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press. It does not guarantee freedom from ignorance or greed.
It may be that it's too late to reverse the decline of journalism. If so, it's too late to reverse the decline of America.
Don Gale, Ph.D., has experience in virtually all forms of journalism, including teaching the subject at the University of Utah and Weber State University.