A Very Big Card has Fallen

Posted on March 17, 2009. Filed under: Latest News Leave a Comment

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 “… Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government with no newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”    - Thomas Jefferson 

Whether or not you live in Seattle, you’ve probably heard the news. I guess we should be thankful that we still can hear the news, even though our beacons of news gathering, daily newspapers, are being extinguished.

Seattle was always a good newspaper town.  We had two dailys – the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Seattle Times. Growing up, my family took them both. When I was late in grade school, I took an interest in a high-profile crime case that had finally come to trial. I decided to learn everything about it that I could, and I’d hurry home to read the news – from both papers.  I recall talking to my parents about how the two papers were covering the trial differently. I concluded that I had to read more than one news source to really understand an issue.

Sure, we have more news sources than ever. And getting to those sources is lightening fast; you don’t even get ink on your white bathrobe.  I guess that’s a good thing.  But as a veteran television reporter, I can tell you this: I never respected any brand of journalist more than I respected the veteran daily newspaper reporter. They had beats and they knew them.  They could look around corners with their pad and pen in a way that I never could with my big, clunky camera. TV cameras have really big lights, but they never seem to shine on the creases of a story the way the best print reporters can.

We still have The Seattle Times, and I’ll be thankful for that tomorrow.  Today, I’m immersed in the Seattle P-I. For the last time.

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