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!