The Dinner, held this evening, is an annual celebration of a free press in America.
Unfortunately, the free press is under attack from various sides. Our president says the press is an enemy of the people. Fox “News” makes a mockery of reporting. The Sinclair network pushes propaganda instead of news on hundreds of radio stations. And newspapers have fewer and fewer readers. As a consequence advertisers are abandoning papers, and reporters are being laid off across America.
Here’s some good news. “Report for America,” a nonprofit organization, hopes to install 1000 journalists in depleted newsrooms by 2022. The organization is in its beginning stages, but has already placed three reporters in Appalachia, and will have nine more in place by June.
For the nine slots, 85 newsrooms applied. There is a hunger for local news well-reported. It is why I subscribe to the Times News and the Morning Call. While I often don’t agree with the Times News editorial policy, it is the only paper that reports local government news in Carbon County. I need that.
Information on “Report for America” was taken from Nellie Bowles, “A New Way Newsrooms Can Get Help,” New York Times, (April 16, 2018), p. B1, B32.
No comments:
Post a Comment