Re: "Newspapers are not packaging," op-ed column, May 12, Airdrie City View
Dear editor,
The traditional newspapers of the world had great value to many. They reported the news as it happened by sending reporters out into the world to get the story. Newspapers published various sections of interest for everyone that could read or have the stories read to them. Typically, the reporting was unbiased. But even from the advent of the printing press, the printed word was meant to inform and entertain but also to sway opinion or direct thought. Newspapers were to be the moral barometer of the community or a nation builder. Those interested in the news could have a hard copy of their world to learn from, form and share opinions, and move to challenge those making the news. Newspapers encouraged literacy, critical thinking, and healthy debate. You could get a copy of the latest issue from a multitude of sources and just about every street corner or shop for a reasonable price.
Radio and film offered a faster, easier and more exciting way to deliver and receive news and opinion. Governments found greater value in the new auditory/visual media and later, media empires were formed to either support or challenge government. Targeted ‘real time’ news and advertising were key to growing economies and holding the governments that managed those economies accountable.
Enter the digital age of news and information. Anyone could become a reporter and a pundit to comment on the news. Digital platforms and resources ensured that facts, whether true or not, could be cited to back a story or an opinion. Information could be seen one minute and disappear the next. Going paperless helps to allow information or history to enter the memory hole. Corporate digital media has greater power than the governments that now subsidize them.
I used to enjoy the printed paper. News, opinions, editorials, and puzzles helped keep my aging brain and lagging interest in world affairs active. It was a tangible record of my world. I find now, with few exceptions, that most media has been compromised by government influence and funding. The newspapers are getting thinner on content and heavy on the ads or what is outright propaganda while the airwaves and digital grids and those caught up in them become more dense.
There seems to be, of late, and encouragingly so, a willingness by more local papers to publish more balanced perspectives rather than just repeat mainstream media news.
At least, the now pricey newspapers still have ‘green’ uses after they are used, whether as wrapping or masking paper, bird cage liners, fish and chip containers, window washing cloths, or in the outhouse. The largest bin at any recycling center is for newsprint and the flyers that give them weight.
I’ll take a good paper over digital squawking any day.
Al Neitsch
Windsong Heights
Airdrie
