“The future promises a diversity of models to serve diverse functions for diverse niches. The decentralization of the music industry provides a scintilla of hope. Musicians are finding ways to make music and get paid independently. The dream of being among the infinitesimal sliver who’ll get the major-label deal, score a big national hit and become a multimillionaire, is being abandoned for the more prosaic, realistic and sustainable goal of just making a humble living doing what one loves and controlling one’s own art. In both the realms of music and information, decentralization means that no longer do we have to sell ourselves to those who’ve amassed towering heaps of capital who can then finance and disseminate our work.
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“So what will the future look like for journalists? I really have no idea, but I know what I’d like to see. We need both nonprofits and for-profits. We need both advertiser-driven and subscriber-driven media. We need media that report straight and we need media that report from the so-called ‘right’ and ‘left.’ We need most of all, more populist media that can think outside of the left-right cage and transcend (not gloss over) those rather contrived divisions. We need objective reporting from official sources and we need deep, fearless investigative reporting with attitude. In the aftermath of this shakeup we may find that trend followers and timeservers fall away, leaving only the core of true believers who still hold to the quasi-religious conviction that journalism is not about titillating us with celebrity and sensationalism but about empowering people; about afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted; about using information to level the balance of power in society.”
“At the same time, the ‘outsiders’ made some deeply misguided statements. Overall I was pleasantly surprised, both these guys had thoughtful comments; however:
Lynn Stiefel, Pioneer Press reporter and Newspaper Guild leader
“Newspapers serving individual suburbs, like Pioneer Press’s, will probably survive one way or another, if not through Sun-Times Media Group than with whoever buys them or picks up the pieces. Whether or not they will want me or will want to pay me is another matter. We’ve worked hard as a Guild to establish somewhat of living wages and decent working conditions, and I’d be loathe to give that up without a real fight. That will be my Virginia Gerst moment — will my passion for journalism outweigh my personal goals to feed my children and send them to college?
“Any reporter will tell you that there’s a certain amount of luck in this game, but it only works when coupled with hard work and digging. Since leaving the meeting Sunday, I’ve thought over and over about the guy [Brad Flora] from the Windy Citizen happening upon a video of police brutality (a video that was already posted to YouTube, by the way). Compare that to the reporting that John Conroy was able to do at the Reader–reporting that documented systemic police brutality and abuse…reporting that’s now gone. THAT’s the sort of reporting that people are afraid to lose, and THAT’s why the Townhall was called.
