Newspapers

Chicago has long been one of my favorite cities in the world. It is a place where interesting things happen and its proclivity for corruption is, of course, legendary. The latest scandal in the Windy City is actually a statewide issue involving Governor Rod Blagojevich. The story is fascinating in its absurdity. If you haven't read the complaint, it's worth the time to download it from the Trib's website - click here - it's fascinating reading.

A more important issue at play in this story is the role of newspapers. The Chicago Tribune and the Sun-Times have both played an important role in reporting this story and it occurred to me that it's worth taking some time to reflect on the future of the newspaper industry. We've all seen evidence of their plight; declining ad revenues, declining circulation, and cutbacks in staffing and features. The internet is the major culprit in their plight, and while I certainly support the internet and am a regular user, I am also a regular newspaper reader.

The major point of consideration is that the Blagojevich investigation was actually initiated by reports in the Trib as a result of their own investigation. The story may have broken anyway, but consider all the important stories in the past that were uncovered by investigative journalists (think Watergate), and that without their efforts many corruption stories would never have been pursued. As much as the internet has become an important supplement to news availability, it's mostly reporting and commenting on issues that were first reported in a newspaper. So where is this leading? If we lose our newspapers, who is going to do the research and the investigations to uncover stories like this? It's not going to happen.

What can you do? Buy a newspaper and read it, tell your retailers that you read the papers and that their advertising is important. Send an email to the reporters whose work you appreciate and tell them thank you. Write to their editor and offer encouragement.

When I travel, I usually travel by car and every time I stop I make it a point to buy the local papers. That may be extreme, I'll admit to being a news junkie, but it has given me an interesting insight into the diversity across this great land of ours.

So, go buy a paper and let these guys know that we not only need them, but we recognize the value of what they do.

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukkah and Happy New Year!

Here Come the Holidays

Here it is closing in on Christmas, then New Year's eve and we're into a brand new year. New president, new hopes for economic growth and peace on the planet. It all makes my head hurt. The holiday season gives me plenty of time to contemplate how things went and how they might go next year; those are not things I particularly want to think about, but there you go.

I know that you will have time for thought as well and I hope that you will give some thought to the future of our wounded warriors. As of last week there were more than thirty thousand soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines that have been wounded in action in Iraq. Some of their injuries were devastating, and life changing. What I'd like to ask of you is to remind your congressman and senators how important it is that we take care of these courageous men and women. About one third of the wounded were injured badly enough to be evacuated by air for medical treatment. Here are the detailed numbers if you're interested - click here.

The future for these heroes is going to require that we step up and help in any way that we can. Helping can take many forms, I think the most important thing is to let them know that they're not forgotten. America Supports You is a web site - click here - that provides information on the many ways you can help, if only to send a card. And remember this shouldn't be just a Christmas effort, many of these guys are going to need our support for a long time.

Taking care of our soldiers has to be recognized as an issue that is completely separate from your political views about the Global War on Terrorism. Soldiers don't make decisions about where to fight or who to fight, soldiers volunteer to protect you and I at sometimes a very high price. Thank a soldier for their sacrifice whenever you see them.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah to all my friends.