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A Rebuttal on the Purpose of Journalism
A writer recently bemoaned the death of ‘defiantly leftist’ journalism. Actually, his thesis also included the overall decline of the news industry — in print and online. This is true, but it has been for at least a decade. Local newspapers are a drying up, and sadly only the largest news outlets in major cities remain. There has been growth in media like Huff Post, the Daily Beast, Politico, etc…; however, the idea that the left is singularly strangled is misleading — the far right has fewer platforms, I believe.
However, I want to make clear that your thesis: ‘no one is there to check ‘capitalism’ is not the point of journalism. Moreover, The New York Times is booming — both financially and in its outreach, as is the Washington Post, L A Times yada, yada. These are highly respected, legitmate journalistic outlets. Journalism does not exist to check capitalism or any other -ism — it exists to deliver the truth — in other words “All the news that’s fit to print.”
I am sorry your job is lost, and I have sympathy for the others in your industry. My advice — get to a classroom and teach students the value of an education. After all, news depends on readership, and that depends on parents and teachers modeling that act…and that is what becomes a check on ‘corruption’ — be it on the left, right, or dead center.
