The search for alternatives to newspapers, and more importantly saving journalism

I am halfway through a new book, published just a couple of months ago titled The Death and Life of American Journalism, by Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols.

McChesney is a professor in the Department of Communications at the University of Illinois. Nichols is The Nation's Washington correspondent. Both have authored several books.

McChesney and Nichols provide detailed insight into American journalism, past, present and possibilities for the future. As a veteran of that profession for more than four decades, while I am only halfway through the book I can personally attest that their assessments and conclusions are dead accurate.

Anyone who wonders how newspaper got into the mess they're in, and why they likely won't survive, should read it. As a professional print journalist I am saddened on one hand, but thrilled someone finally called into account the genesis of the decline of newspapers and journalism, which threatens our entire democracy and society.

So far the book is direct, and spares no words in describing the consequences for democracy without prudent, aggressive, quality journalism, all the while it is vanishing before our very eyes. It describes the thousands upon thousands of journalism jobs which have been sacrificed for the bottom line. This has particularly escalated in the past three or four years.

Look around. Where are the investigative journalism efforts that kept a watchful eye on government? Heck, you can't fault the journalists. Those who have survived have their hands full just trying produce enough "copy" to publish a daily newspaper, albeit growing ever smaller both in physical size and number of pages. It's everywhere: Coast to coast, border to border.

I doubt all newspapers will die. Some won't and will continue to make a decent profit. But at what cost?

While newspaper newsrooms have taken the biggest hit, even broadcast news has been hurt. But democracy never relied as much on broadcast journalism as print. Sound bites do not provide the depth of information.

Of course newspapers have evolved in large part into printed sound bites. You rarely, if ever, see stories that provide the depth of information that tell a complete story. Of course there are exceptions such as the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Often they are once source articles, because that's all the reporter has the time and news space for. They don't have the time or news space to do more.

And speaking of space, there was a time when newspapers were happy to publish local, community news ... even school lunch menus. Parents could rely on the local paper to know what's going on in schools, in government, in their communities.

It used to be if you were an out-of-towner you could pick up the local newspaper and get a picture of the local community. No longer.

Is the internet the answer? Maybe. Although as the books points out, the proliferation of internet sites competing for advertising dollars has depressed revenue possibilities to the point they cannot sustain a truly professional, paid journalism staff...at least to the degree newspapers have until the last few years.

At the end of 2009 Smart Money -- an online product of the Wall Street Journal -- put newspapers on a Top 10 List. It was a list of 10 things NOT to buy in 2010. I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but clearly without a salvation for journalism, so goes democracy.

Hopefully before the the book ends, McChesney and Nichols will suggest a business model for journalism that will be both profitable and provide a truly free and independent press like our Founding Fathers intended in order to preserve democracy.

Want to trade places with Joe? No thanks

Let’s see, what dollar value would you put on your life?

Sounds preposterous that I would even ask such a question, right?

Life sometimes takes us down unexpected paths.

Sometimes it’s no longer even life. Sometimes it’s life with unpleasant limitations. Sometimes what happens pains our family members so badly that whatever the event, life will never be the same for you, or them.

And while we can feel sorry for – let’s say -- poor Joe, who’ll spend the rest of his life in pain and unable to work from a neck fracture he suffered in whatever accident, like being rear ended by a semi, what value can you place on that?

Joe had surgery to repair the fracture. Doctors put in a metal plate and some screws to hold it in place.

How about medical bills? Certainly they’ll be into the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars.

Okay, so those are paid by the trucking company insurance. Maybe yes. Maybe no. In any case, the medical bills won’t end here and now. They’ll continue … for a long, long time.

And Joe stills wakes up every day having to swallow his pain medication just to make life bearable. The pills have side effects, so he has to take more medication to offset the pain meds.

Remember, Joe can’t work. His job as a – pick one, say an electrician – is long gone because he isn’t physically able to do it any more.

Now Joe doesn’t have a weekly paycheck. He has two children, both in elementary school, and a loving wife who stays at home tending to the family. One income, or at least there was one income. Now there’s no income.

Let’s see, there are groceries to buy, a mortgage or rent to pay, utilities, modest car payment and oh, yeah Joe doesn’t have medical insurance any more for himself or his family.

These expenses don’t even count renting a movie, or an occasional birthday party for one of the children, or life insurance for Joe in case something tragic happens to him.

Oh yeah, something tragic did happen to Joe. His wonderful life just turned into a mess thanks to the negligence of some trucking company and its driver.

And guess what? It will never change back to the way it was. Poor Joe and his family are doomed to a morass of debt, anxiety about the future, and oh yes, Joe is still in pain each and every day.

So now what is the value of Joe’s life? How much money would he have earned working another 25 or 30 years as an electrician? Maybe the house would be paid off by then, he’d have a nice nest egg upon which to retire and enjoy his remaining years and all would be good.

But it won’t be good. That’s all changed. Forever!

And yet the ordinary man or woman whose life is generally good cannot understand why Joe would hire a personal injury attorney, and ask for monetary damages to offset his income, his daily pain, his disability, his disfigurement, the suffering he and his family continue to endure day in and day out.

Joe and his family are good people. They’re not greedy. They’d go back to the way it was in a second. They can’t.

Yet at the trucking company it’s business as usual.

Joe’s only recourse is to hire that injury attorney, like Kenneth J. Allen, who has a passion for people who have been harmed, permanently and forever! So he and his wife do hire Mr. Allen.

A lawsuit is filed against the trucking company. The company’s insurance representatives put a laughable settlement on the table. No way does it cover anything close to Joe’s tangible and intangible losses.

The offer is rejected and a jury trial is convened. Thank goodness it’s a jury of Joe’s peers, because more often than not members of a jury can place themselves in Joe’s shoes. And historically in the case of Kenneth Allen, it’s been always.

The jury returns a verdict of say, $6 million in favor of Joe. Boy, that’s a lot of money we all think.

But would I trade places with Joe? No way. Please, there’s no way it’s worth $6 million to me to go through what Joe and his family have, and will – forever!

In reality, Joe won’t even receive $6 million. It’ll be whittled down with expenses he’ll have to incur because of his limitations, like maybe mowing his lawn like he once enjoyed. Now he must hire someone. Or psychological therapy he’ll need. After all, the mental toll this has taken on Joe is significant and finally hitting.

When there are outcries for tort reform, limits on damages a person can collect after being irreparably harmed, stop and think about poor Joe. Want to trade places?

Instead, how about stronger laws, enforcement and penalties for trucking company safety violations.

Explore cost saving ideas, like license bureau sites

A friend -- Mike Paunovich -- recently mentioned to me something that I can't seem to get out of my mind. Maybe writing about will do it.

He was talking about government efficiency, and ways state government could, and should, save money. One of his suggestions -- which made complete sense to me -- is leasing space from counties or municipalities to house Indiana license bureaus.

Why not, I asked myself? After all I suspect many, if not most, are paying pretty good dough for space in office buildings and/or strip centers such as Valparaiso where it is located south of US30 in a small business retail center.

While I don't have any idea what the state is paying for that space, I can only guess it's not cheap. Who has ever heard of a government agency getting a bargain on virtually anything?

Now I know everyone who works in a government building will cry "We're already too crowded...we don't have any space."

Maybe that's true. But surely throughout the 92 Indiana counties there must be opportunities for this kind of partnership. And maybe there are some examples of this being done, of which I am not aware. If so, congratulations.

And maybe there are other areas to look for cost savings in government. For example, road maintenance. Most cities and towns do their own, separate from county highway departments. Are there opportunities --even at a minimum level -- to contract with each other for certain services that wouldn't impact public safety?

Something to think about. After all, in these tight times saving a buck puts you a dollar ahead.

Easter, celebration and family

Today is Holy Thursday. I was thinking on the way to work about this week, and it's importance to those of us in the Christian faith.

While I have physically left the Catholic Church, it has really never has left me.

My wife and I attend New Song in downtown Valparaiso- a branch of the First United Methodist Church. She is not Roman Catholic, but is a devout Christian.

Were it not for New Song Pastor Kurt Nichols and all of the others who make the Sunday service always meaningful and relevant, I might be swayed to return to the Catholic Church. I often miss it.

Of course the television advertising campaign recently for "Catholics Come Home" was a powerful message to me. However, Pastor Nichols has my devotion, loyalty and appreciation. I know he has my wife Donna's, as well.

So as we prepare to celebrate The Resurrection, and the deep meaning behind what occurred more than 2000 years ago, I am also reminded of our own mortality.

Growing up the fear of dying was terrifying for me. My childhood was far from Ozzie and Harriet -- very far. Now, as I head towards what are surely the last stages of my life, I am no longer afraid. I know I'm in good hands -- God's hands. How much more comforting can it be?

Now there are only two things that scare me -- public speaking, and for some unexplained reason, talking about religion.

I think the latter may stem from an expectation I have on myself to know more about the Christian faith than I actually do, and a fear of being exposed. That does not, however, have any bearing on my deep faith in the Lord.

This Sunday -- Easter -- I am positive it will again be a wonderful experience at New Song. Afterward Donna and I will return home and have our own Easter. We may or may not talk about how we miss family. Again, as we get older our children have their own families and obligations.

I'll quietly remember Easters when my Aunt Jane and Uncle Tom, who raised me for a good part of my life, would cook a leg of lamb. Honestly, I didn't like lamb. But it wasn't about the food. It was about family, and the celebration Easter represents.

I miss that. I suspect Donna will miss her family and experiences as well.