A letter to a journalist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Remember when you were a college student who had just decided to attend journalism school “to make a difference?”  You wanted to change the world in a big way back then and the reasons were many.  You wanted to become a proud member of the Fourth Estate.  You understood that The Media had the power to change the world.  You knew that the flow of accurate information was the pulsing blood of our democracy. Perhaps you were inspired by reading the platform Joseph Pulitzer wrote in 1907:

I know that my retirement will make no difference in its cardinal principles, that it will always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare, never be satisfied with merely printing news, always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty.

That was long ago, however, and you now realize you had those idealistic thoughts when you were young and naïve.  Now you realize that we all need to make compromises in order to get paid.  That’s why you are one of the proud creators of the various “Black Friday” articles in today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Now that you are entrenched in a real job, you understand that working for The Media is all about printing the happy type of …

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Today’s biggest story: Somebody won the Powerball jackpot!

Because I’ve taken the time to read my local newspaper today, I am well-informed.  I now know that everybody at the South St. Louis County Dierberg’s grocery store is excited that the winning Powerball ticket was sold right there.

But that’s not all.

Under “Top News,” I can read that the St. Louis Cardinals probably will not be signing a pitcher who was with them last year.

But there’s more: From a local trial, we now know how a St. Louis area man allegedly broke his girlfriend’s neck.  And there’s even more news: The colorful banner at the top of the front page reminds me to get ready for this week’s Auto Show at the downtown convention center.  Don’t forget the teaser at the bottom right: Buy Sunday’s paper and you can read an article about beer and the Bible. 

All of this important information on a single front page!  Can you believe that they make their reporters spend years at journalism schools in order to write things like this? 

Copy of Post-Dispatch 1-26-07.JPG

If I were a journalist who worked for this newspaper, this front page would embarrass me.   I would keep it a secret that I worked for this paper.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch is not a locally-owned newspaper. It is owned by Lee Enterprises.  If you visit the website homepage of Lee Enterprises, you will see lots of web headlines about growing the revenue, increasing the circulation and controlling the costs.  You will not see the word “journalism.”  …

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Continue ReadingToday’s biggest story: Somebody won the Powerball jackpot!