FFQF: Decline of the Press

This week's contribution to Founding Father's Quote Friday:

Fisher Ames (1758 – 1808) was an influential Federalist who served in Congress from 1789 – 1797, and was a noted orator who helped gain support for the new Constitution in his home state of Massachusetts through his acceptance of the Bill of Rights.

“We are, heart and soul, friends to the freedom of the press. It is however, the prostituted companion of liberty, and somehow or other, we know not how, its efficient auxiliary. It follows the substance like its shade; but while a man walks erect, he may observe that his shadow is almost always in the dirt. It corrupts, it deceives, it inflames. It strips virtue of her honors, and lends to faction its wildfire and its poisoned arms, and in the end is its own enemy and the usurper's ally, It would be easy to enlarge on its evils. They are in England, they are here, they are everywhere. It is a precious pest, and a necessary mischief, and there would be no liberty without it.” - Fisher Ames, Review of the Pamphlet on the State of the British Constitution, 1807.

As vexing as they may be, the printed newspapers are failing in the United States – not so much in news content as in closing their doors or turning to on-line publication. What effect will this have on the citizens of the United States?

A March 2009 Princeton University study concluded after the Cincinnati Post folded in 2007, that “the next year, fewer candidates ran for municipal office in the suburbs most reliant on the Post, incumbents became more likely to win re-election, and voter turnout fell….” The study went on to say that their research “demonstrated that newspapers – even underdogs such as the Post, which had a circulation of just 27,000 when it closed – can have a substantial and measurable impact on public life.”

USA Today (March 19, 2009) commented: “Sometime soon, millions of people may find themselves unwittingly involved in a test that could profoundly change their daily routines, local economies and civic lives. They'll have to figure out how to keep up with City Hall, their neighborhoods and their kids' schools — as well as store openings, new products and sales — without a 170-year-old staple of daily life: a local newspaper.”

Newspapers give one time to reflect on the news, not to just react to it; time to consider the source of information, not lured into a commercial or the next 30 second news blurb as often happens on the visual media; something to come back to, not to be forgotten. They also give the local communities local news.

Not to mention the effect of the loss of newspapers on our NIE (Newspapers In Education) program.

There is even a website - with the slogan "Don't just read the news - predict it" that allows viewers to predict which newspaper will fold next.

I think Ames was accurate when he said "It is a precious pest, and a necessary mischief, and there would be no liberty without it.”

Essential Question: Do newspapers have the significance to our students that we would desire in the process of encouraging enlightened and concerned citizens?

Founding Fathers Quote Friday is hosted by Meet the Founding Fathers