Furthermore: Where the Headlines Take You

Death of the Daily

Washington governor Chris Gregoire signed a bill Tuesday that makes a 40% cut in state business taxes for newspaper publishing companies. The bill is in response to the local effects of a nation-wide crisis in the newspaper industry (affecting, most notably, the Vancouver Columbian and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer).  In fact, Gregoire and the members of the Washington legislature aren't the only politicians who're taking the crisis seriously – the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held hearings last week on the future of journalism, where journalists, publishers, and media pundits testified on their views about what the real problems are and how to fix them, while senators used the hearing as an opportunity to air their own ideas for solutions.

No doubt as long as newspapers are in crisis, there will be debate about what is dragging them down, but one thing I can say for sure is that it's unlikely that you'll ever find a shortage of things to read about it. Journalists are, after all, mostly writers, which means that they are more inclined than most of us to write about their profession, its history, its development, and its successes and failures. Here are a few of my favorite books about newspapers and journalism:

During the American revolution, newspapers were scarce and news was precious, so folks got together and read the paper out loud, in groups. Early 19th century taverns drew patrons not just with their libations, but with the newspapers they stocked for drinkers to read. Around 1900, newspapers small and large ran contests with fabulous prizes, to increase circulation. You can read up on these and other details of the social history of newspapers in Thomas C. Leonard's News for All. Leonard also ponders the future of journalism, and argues that in order to thrive, newspapers must reaffirm their commitment to community responsibility and their role as vital elements of civic discourse.

In the 20th century, more and more local newspapers came under the control of a small group of large corporations – by 2000, roughly 80% of newspapers in the U.S. were owned by chains. Leaving Readers Behind: The Age of Corporate Newspapering is a collection of essays discussing the history of American newspaper conglomeration, its effects on journalism, on the public's access to information, and on the shape of our culture. A second volume, Breach of Faith, follows up with an exploration of how the corporate focus on making profits has influenced news coverage and crippled newspapers' ability to cover local and state government, international news, and other subjects that require investigative journalism or intensive staffing.

On a slightly different note, I have to recommend Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism, by Bob Edwards. The book follows Murrow's life story, from his boyhood in Skagit County, Washington to his unfortunately early death from lung cancer. But Murrow's journalism career is the real focus, and readers will learn how he became the first person to bring vivid, up-to-the-minute international news home to American radio listeners, and later a huge influence on the development of news and current affairs programming on television. This book is short – less than 200 pages – but it delivers a clear, interesting picture of the experiences that shaped Murrow, and of his considerable impact on the profession of journalism.