Magazines

The Need For Strong Backing Of Journalism To Hold Trump’s “Feet To The Fire”!

It is urgent that all Americans realize the overwhelming importance of strong backing of major newspapers and magazines, as well as PBS, NPR, CNN and MSNBC to hold government leaders’ “feet to the fire”, to hold them accountable on government policy.

Donald Trump’s attack on the news media is an alarm bell in the night.

Without a free press, specifically print media and electronic media, our democracy can be taken away from us, and no journalist or media source can allow themselves to be intimidated, and must pursue the truth about government leaders and policies without fear of retribution.

If we lose freedom of the press, then our basic civil liberties are threatened, and that is why such organizations as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center and others like them, must be fully supported in fighting in court to prevent the loss of freedom in any form.

There are cynics about the news media, but such publications as the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and major journals of opinion, both in print and online, must be vigilant and not allow themselves to be threatened, as they are the first line of defense for all Americans.

At the same time, CNN and MSNBC must work at being more accurate and less motivated for profit, as many Americans who do not read news online regularly, rely on them to do the job that we used to expect automatically from such media luminaries in the past, such as Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, Ted Koppel, and others, including Diane Rehm on NPR, who just retired, and will be greatly missed!

40th Anniversary Of “All The President’s Men” Film: A Great Moment Of Investigative Journalism!

If it was not for Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, and the investigative journalism of the Washington Post four decades ago, we would never have learned about the illegalities of the Richard Nixon Presidency.

It was their courage and willingness to go where leads took them that held Richard Nixon and his administration accountable for the scandals that besmirched the Presidency, not just Watergate but many others.

The film, starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, came out forty years ago this week, and can be considered one of the very best political films ever produced.

Sadly, journalism has declined dramatically, and too much of it now is entertainment or sensationalism oriented, and this has caused the American people to lose confidence in the reliability and accuracy of journalists.

And newspapers and magazines in print have rapidly disappeared, a tragic turn in journalism, as online has become dominant!

The Rapid Demise Of Print Journalism: Something To Mourn!

As one who grew up a great fan of print journalism, what is happening in the present time is a great moment of depression.

US News and World Report and Newsweek as print weekly magazines are gone.

The Boston Globe, bought by the NY Times for $1.1 billion twenty years ago, has now been sold by the Times to John Henry, the owner of the Boston Red Sox, for $70 million, a fire sale at 93 percent discount!

The Washington Post, in the Graham family for generations, has been sold to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, for $250 million, when it was worth much more than the Boston Globe twenty years ago.

Print Journalism is in rapid decline, and newspapers, as we knew it, will never be the same, and that is a loss for journalism and for the American people.

The New York Times, the Washington Post, and so many other newspapers now can only survive with online commitments, by this author and millions of others.

Print Journalism played such an important role in American history, and its decline is, in many ways, a sign of the cultural decline of America, in an era where there is no cooperation, no crossing the aisle to do what is good for the American people!

Journalism has become an industry without a future, as the commitment to excellence has been replaced by the commitment to profit alone, so entertainment, rather than information, has become the major goal of online and television journalism!

This is all very sad and to be mourned over!