In the current decline of newspapers, John Nichols and Robert McChesney offer a potential solution.
“Through massive public subsidies…the public nature of journalism returns and that’s the debate we need to be having,” McChesney said.
Nichols, a political blogger and Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine, and McChesney, a professor of communication at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, promoted their newest book, The Death and Life of American Journalism, with a lecture at Eaton Humanities on Monday at 4 p.m.
Subsidies were used during the United States’ first 100 years to fund newspapers before the switch to advertising, McChesney said during the lecture. McChesney said instead of raising taxes, funding for the subsidies could come from redirecting money from places like government-paid public relations.
Brice Nixon, a 29-year-old Ph.D. candidate, said he could understand how some journalists might be apprehensive toward the government funding journalism.
“Especially for journalists [it’s scary],” Nixon said. “We kind of come out there with this relationship between government and journalists where it’s your role to be critical towards them, so how can we turn around and say the government should help out journalism. That’s why I think the historical argument [is a good point].”
Government help, McChesney said, would actually allow the media as well as democracy to flourish. The top five most democratic countries in the world according to The Economist, said McChesney, have the largest publication subsidies.
“This shows the relationship is not antagonistic,” McChesney said.
Dalal Albwardi, a 19-year-old pre-journalism major, said she enjoyed seeing the professional point of view of the current media problem.
“It’s pretty interesting to find out these things,” Albwardi said. “We read about it in our books, but it’s nice to hear about this stuff from the professional side.”
However, for Nichols and McChesney’s idea to work, involvement is key, McChesney said.
“We are optimistic, but it’s not a spectator sport,” McChesney said. “This is one where you have to get on the ice and play. If we demand this for journalism, we can win, but if we sit back, we won’t.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Rose Heaphy at Josephine.heaphy@colorado.edu.
1 comment
Thanks for covering the thought-provoking presentation by Nichols and McChesney. And nice job on the news story.
A suggestion: How about a somewhat longer, more in-depth piece examining their suggested solution? You could talk to some faculty here at the J-school, some other experts, and maybe a few working journalists. I’d be very interested to read that!