WE determine what news we want to hear

The article I read was from Time Magazine and it mentioned a study done at Princeton University on what happens when a town loses its newspaper. Prior to reading the article, I didn't think newspapers honestly mattered that much. I still don't think the end of the newspaper is the end of democracy or our society, at all. I do think though, that we should pay attention to what is happening to newspaper organizations and realize that if they were all gone for good it would affect our society in some ways.

The study basically found that in communities where newspapers were shut down, people seemed to care less about how their town was governed--by not voting, and fewer people running for office to begin with. They found that this was less common in small communities compared to large ones. I'm guessing because in small towns it seems like most people talk on a regular basis and feel that they have the power to change issues in their community. The article also discussed how newspapers provide something unique that a news website like CNN.com can't, and that is local coverage. I work at a dry cleaners and during a typical 3-hour shift--rough, I know--I help about 7 customers. When I'm tired of working on homework, I actually enjoy reading the newspaper. Though I find most of the newspaper is extremely depressing with police reports shootings and deaths, for some reason I still read it! So basically, if I wasn't bored at work, I would not read the newspaper. I feel as though I get enough news on TV and online, but what about the generation that doesn't use the computer? If newspapers were shut down, it seems like senior citizens would be missing a vital part of their schedule. This might be stereotyping, but I know that my 65 year-old boss has to read the newspaper every morning. She loves reading the local stories and just the paper in general. I'm not saying every elder in our society has to read the newspaper, but because they grew up in a generation without the internet, they probably count on the newspaper being around. For my younger generation, the paper just doesn't matter as much because we grew up in a different time.

While the demise of the newspaper definitely has its negatives, I do not think we need to be worried about journalism, or our democratic society disappearing. If anything, it's only getting better. The term "citizen journalist" is becoming more common, referring to the fact that any citizen in our society can be a journalist. People actually want to read what their fellow citizens have to say, and it's great. We're moving away from the only credible sources being "the media" and whatever "the media" says is true, is correct. Now, WE determine what news we want to hear, when we want it, and how much of it we want. Of course we should make sure who were calling credible for receiving news in general, but I like the fact that there are so many websites allowing anyone to post their opinion on topics.

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1885349,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1886826,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-sidebar