Publictakeover's Weblog

More Journalism

There’s an irony about modern journalism.

In spite of the collapse of print journalism in the U.S. and the laying-off of thousands of trained, professional journalists, there’s probably more high quality journalism being written now than ever before.

It’s being published on the internet, though, and most of the writers are being paid little or nothing for their work.

Journalism is also being read by a narrower range–if not just fewer–of readers. I never read David Brooks anymore. I wouldn’t even read the title of a piece by William Kristol.

But it’s a sword that cuts both ways. Truthdig is loaded with stellar journalists writing top notch stuff, like this piece by William Pfaff: Assassination as Foreign Policy.

Pfaff points out that,

…global domination is a political policy that cannot possibly succeed. The world is not open to domination by a single state. The effort to establish it will destroy the United States itself. The reasons are evident in history.

But who reads stuff like that? People like me. I’ve been trying to do something about it, off and on, since around 1970. Most of the writing is better today, but the audience isn’t. That’s the problem.