Newspaper Controversy

What are the issues/concerns confronting the newspaper industry?

Just like any other medium of mass media, the survivability of a newspaper depends primarily on advertisement which serves as the “lifeblood” of any news organization. While scanning a newspaper I have observed that paid advertisements occupies I think 20% of the entire paper. This poses a critical question to me: Does an ad in any way influence the content of a newspaper? Let’s face it. This is question between the role of a mass media to ferret out the truth or to slant the news in favor of its advertisers. It is fact that newspaper is obliged to satisfy the advertisers, their audiences and the government. They cater to advertisers primarily by suppressing news that reflects badly on advertisers and their products. I supposed that some newspapers will resort to hiding some irregularities involving its advertisers and mislead the public readers just to protect the reputation of a product’s company; otherwise, it means losing their main source of income and perhaps leads to its closure. And to a lesser extent, they cater to government power so as to avoid harassment (for instance, over licenses) and in return, for favors to obtain leaks and other handouts. I would like to believe that there are two existing kinds of newspaper organization in the country: the pro and anti-administration newspapers. The pro-ad newspapers being allies of the government enjoy the privilege from getting a free and easy access to information to receiving gifts in exchange of a favor. On the other hand, we have an anti-government newspaper who suffers from the harassment of the administration and who is deprived from exercising their rights to information.

What is your take regarding this issue? Can you also mention some of the underlying issues concerning the print industry (magazine, books)today?

Your comment is due until feb 3, 2011.