Thanks to Steven Waldman for calling attention to the need for more sources of quality local news (The Tribune, Oct. 8). Citizens, especially young citizens, are woefully uninformed and misinformed about what is happening in their communities and in their world. Traditional journalists striving for objectivity have all but disappeared. Instead, today’s information sources are driven by those who seek popularity above principal, audience above accuracy, and sensationalism above sensibility.
Journalism needs another paradigm shift similar to when consumer demand created the penny press, when radio created the need for regulation focused on “the public interest,” and when television drew attention to objective news from two-thirds of the population.
This nation — any nation — cannot survive unless citizens have sources of accurate, reliable and consistent information. As Thomas Jefferson said: “A nation that expects to be ignorant and free . . . expects what never was and never will be.”
Don Gale, Salt Lake City