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Words & Reflections
buying newspaper-company stocks in
spite of the deteriorating stock market.
The story featured Gannett and Knight
Ridder, but also made strong mention
of the Tribune Co. as a good buy.
Was this an appropriate story for the
Tribune Co.’s flagship newspaper?
More to the point, why hasn’t the Chicago
Tribune reported more prominently
the Tribune company’s leading
role in lobbying for repeal of the FCC
cross-ownership restrictions? It is because
the owners, their executives, and
even some editors have a financial stake
in the story being left untold? Is it some
measure of the conflicts created by
financial-market ownership, stock options,
and corporate self-interest that a
question like this even must be asked?
To its credit, in editorializing in support
of removing the FCC restrictions—
which it characterizes as “obsolete”
and “out of touch with reality”—the
Tribune acknowledges its corporate
interest. But it bases its case purely on
financial considerations and competitive
opportunities. The public good,
the health of democracy, and the well
being of local communities are not
considerations. This illustrates how
dangerous the ownership concentration
and the Wall Street control has
become. It is ownership concentration
that is advancing the cause of greater
concentration by removing government
limits that were put in place to
protect the public interest.
Among other things, hasn’t deregulation
and ownership concentration
clearly been shown to be a risky proposition?
Aren’t there lessons to be learned
from the damage done by the relaxing
of controls of savings and loans, the
airline industry, banking and telecommunications?
And, in those cases,
mostly money was at stake. With the
FCC rules, public good and democracy
are at stake.
Isn’t that a story good newspapers
should be reporting?
‘Only in Variety Is There
Freedom.’
I delivered the opening keynote at the
symposium in Illinois and borrowed a
line from journalist Walter Lippmann
for the title: “In variety there is freedom.”
It was from a speech Lippmann
gave over 50 years ago in which he said,
“there is safety in numbers and in diversity
and being spread out and having
deep roots in many places. Only in
variety is there freedom.” He also said
the secret of a truly free press is “that it
should consist of many newspapers
decentralized in their ownership and
management and dependent for their
support—upon the communities
where they are written, where they are
edited and where they are read.”
Lippmann’s wonderful description
of a free press is still valid today. It is
vital to our democracy’s survival. Unfortunately,
it is not a model that works
for short-term financial investors.
Gene Roberts and Tom Kunkel have
put together another fine volume that
moves this very important dialogue
forward. I look forward to hearing more
of their personal voices, advocacy of
solutions, and pushing all of us to find
the will to act. ■
Frank A. Blethen is the publisher of
The Seattle Times.
A Rigorous Look at the Work of Newsrooms Today
In this era of bottom-line journalism, the authors document how quality in news reporting can triumph.
The News About the News: American Journalism in Peril
Leonard Downie, Jr. and Robert G. Kaiser
Alfred A. Knopf. 292 Pages. $25.
By Seth Effron
Picture this scene: A newspaper editor
interviews an applicant whose resumé
shows little newsroom experience. “So
kid, you want to be a journalist. Take
this copy of ‘The News About the News:
American Journalism in Peril.’ Read it.
If you still want to work in the news
business, write me an 800-word essay
on why you want to be a journalist,
then come back to see me in a week. If
not, keep the book. It’s on me.”
This exercise might be a good thing
to ask each journalism applicant to do.
“The News About the News,” written
by Leonard Downie, Jr., the executive
editor of The Washington Post and
Robert G. Kaiser, the Post’s former
managing editor, provides a stark and
honest assessment of the current news
business. It is an important and thoughtful
examination of the roles journalists
and journalism play in Americans’ lives
and in their democracy. After reading
it, anyone thinking of working as a
journalist in the 21st century will have
a clearer understanding—and warning—about
what to expect.
In their analysis, Downie and Kaiser
don’t pull any punches. The consolidation
of many news organizations and
media companies into just a few Wall
Street-driven corporations for which
newsgathering is not the primary busi-
Nieman Reports / Winter 2002 93