McChesney examines future of American journalism

As part of an ongoing lecture series organized by the communications department, Robert McChesney, co-author of The Life and Death of American Journalism: the Media Revolution That Will Begin the World Again, spoke to students in Fulton Hall Tuesday evening on how journalism's decline in the United States "calls into question the entire American democratic process." In his lecture, McChesney spoke of what he called the decline in journalistic quality across the country and how it is rooted in the tension between the public service of journalism and the private sector. He offered solutions to the crisis, including increased government subsidies that embrace electronic media and serve to foster higher quality and more multi-angled journalism throughout the country. "If we don't have journalism, we can't keep power accountable," McChesney said.

McChesney opened the discussion by citing a number of facts reflecting the current state of American journalism. One study conducted last year by Baltimore's Pew Center found that 86 percent of Baltimore's news coverage was prompted by the government or public relations organizations, and the city's major newspaper, The Baltimore Sun, produced 73 percent fewer original stories in 2009 compared to 1991. Today's media features "extraordinarily sophisticated public relations, packaged as news that threatens to undermine the legitimacy of our constitutional right," McChesney said.
While noting that around 2,500 people are currently paid to post their stories online, the speaker was critical of the conventional wisdom that the rise of the Internet and blogosphere eroded the quantity and quality of reporting. Instead, he pointed to the influence of profit-seeking "monopolistic news conglomerates" in the media world as jeopardizing quality journalism, a market force that began in the 1980s, before the popularization of the Internet.

In addressing solutions to the issue, McChesney urged the audience to reconsider their ideas about journalism's role in society. He challenged students to question the role of the government and media in American journalism. Noting that the media has been funded largely through advertising since after the Civil War, he examined the philosophies of framers such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, who thought that supporting journalists with subsidies was not a breach of the First Amendment or an act of censorship. "Our founders would not only condone public subsidies for journalism – they would demand it," McChesney said.

The bulk of McChesney's lecture focused on the need for constructive government support of media that will preserve free press. Citing The Economist's rankings of the most democratic countries in the world, he said that the top five countries, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, and Finland, also featured the top five governmentally subsidized publications in the world. He said that a diverse range of initiatives are being taken under the umbrella of government aid for media, including expanding the AmeriCorps to include journalists in areas with fading news coverage and an increase of student involvement in media, especially at the high school level. "If we're going to have credible journalism, we're going to need massive government subsidies," he said. "Private journalism can flourish with public press subsidies. Journalists feel more emboldened when they know they can eat."

The audience said they were interested in McChesney's unique take on the issue and remedy of government subsidies. "I thought he did a great job explaining the situation," said Brian McMeans, A&S '11. "Students here at BC and across the country increasingly get information from blogs, and other news media is fading away fast."

"McChesney said that unless someone starts to support American journalism, the United States is looking at a future in which the ‘news' is dictated by public relations firms," said Ali McDonald, A&S '13. "That's just not what journalism is supposed to be about."

Others lauded McChesney's parallels of journalistic freedom and democracy. "McChesney's lecture pointed out the importance of solid journalism as it pertains to the fundamentals of democracy," said Michael Keith, a professor in the communication department, who introduced the evening's speaker.