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基本説明
Argues that with corporate balance sheets dictating what we read, freedom of speech is in peril-and freedom itself may be compromised.
Full Description
"The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is clear: Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of the press. And yet a force seemingly even more powerful than the supreme law of the land threatens one of our nation's most precious guarantors of freedom.
For more than two centuries, American newspapers have collected, organized, and disseminated the information that makes democracy possible. Occasional opponents of a free press have not been able to cripple newspapers and despite dire predictions, neither have radio, television, or the Internet. But greed can kill American newspapers, thus eliminating the crucial synergy between journalism and democracy.
The reality that newspapers must remain financially viable has always dictated compromises between the competing missions of profit and public service. But in recent years the essential balancing of those missions has been replaced by a single-minded pursuit of profit. Whether the chosen method is scaling back of content, cutting corners to control costs, or dismantling the traditional wall separating the news and business departments, the result is the same: the watering down of newspaper journalism, which is the core of all American journalism. Without fundamental change in newspapers' corporate boardrooms, the flow of information that Americans need to govern themselves will dry up.
In Knightfall, Davis "Buzz" Merritt, a 40-year newspaperman whose career runs parallel to the seismic shift in journalism's landscape, examines one notable exemplar of this growing trend, Knight Ridder, America's second-largest newspaper company with holdings including The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Miami Herald, the Detroit Free Press, and the Mercury News in San Jose.
Merritt was a participant-observer in the 1974 marriage of two newspaper companies, a union that seemed made in heaven. Knight Newspapers' longstanding tradition of excellence in journalism coupled with Ridder Publications' business savvy should have created a unique company offering the best of both worlds.
That it did not happen is a reflection of complex changes in American society and the realities of modern business pressures driven by Wall Street. There are no pure heroes or pure villains in this story; the players were doing what their training, background, and respective family histories urged them to do. But the story's outcome is ominous for American democracy. Merritt's personal accounts of the 30 years since the merger illustrate the degree to which what we know is being limited. Further, his portraits of key figures, analysis of societal changes, and dozens of interviews with others who were (and are) there reveal that not only is he on target, he is also not alone in his unsettling conclusions.
A free press is a cornerstone of our democracy. The erosion of that foundation is a catastrophe in the making: the real possibility that the kind of journalism that gave rise to -- and preserves -- our democracy will disappear."
Contents
"Author's Note
Introduction: Will Newspaper Journalism Survive?
Part One: Morning
1: Why This Matters
Newspapers and Coat Hangers
Journalism and Democracy: Fully Interdependent
How a Democracy Decides
Journalism's Role in Public Judgment
Opposites Attract
Concerns and Conceits
But How to Define Quality?
Effect on Public Life
2: The Heritages
The Ridder Path
The Intersection
The Knight Path
Lee Hills and the Supremacy of the Newsroom
Losing an Heir
3: Building Toward Merger
Rebuilding a Newspaper
Practicing Journalists
Turning Points
Finding Alvah Chapman
Dependence and Independence
The Deal Is Done
4: Wichita: A Marriage Made In...?
""Scorched Earth"" Policy
A Ride Around Town
A Modest Start and a Modest Goal
No Place at the Table
Another One?
Good Journalism with Good Journalists
A Coda
Part Two: Midday
5: Introducing Change
From ""Separation of Power"" to the ""Publisher System""
6: External Change: Boomers, Wall Street, and Technology
Change One: Boomers or Bust
Change Two: The Wall Street Syndrome
Cyclical, Top to Bottom
On Deaf Ears
Change Three: Technology
The Internet
Market Fragmentation
7: Internal Change: Creeping Corporatism and Catastrophe
Change Four: Leave Autonomy Alone
Creeping Corporatism
A Matter of Tone
One Size Fits All
Change Five: You Get What You Pay For, Maybe
The Publishers' Revolt
The Erosion of Newspaper Quality and MBOs
Change Six: People and Purpose
8: Change Seven: Breaching the Wall
Why a Wall?
Cracks and Gaps
Auto-mania
Where's My Bazooka?
A Coda
9: Change Eight: Lie, Cheat, Steal
Post-Watergate Syndrome
Lie
Cheat
Steal
... And Trust
""Who Do I See About...?
Tips for Coping
Part Three: Evening
1: Doing the Journalism
Batten: Exemplar of Great Journalism
Three Mile Island
PTL
Kentucky Basketball
Hurricane Andrew
Margins of Excellence
""An Incredible and Spectacular Honor""
A Coda
11: Saying Good-bye
A Philadelphia Story
A Columbia Story
A Miami Story
A San Jose Story
12: Wichita ... Saying Good-bye
Public Journalism
From Collegiality to Confrontation
""No Matter What It Takes""
We Didn't Mean That!
13: What Now?
Migrating Faster
Going Private
Corporate Reform
Talk Differently to the Street
How Big Is Big Enough?
Nonprofit Alternatives
The Final Coda
Notes
Index
About the Author"
