Soc. of Prof. Journalists Calls for 'Natl. Debate' re. Knight Ridder Sale

[DeepModem Mom]

Editor & Publisher: SPJ Calls for 'National Debate' Surrounding Sale of Knight Ridder
By E&P Staff


NEW YORK The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) on Thursday will call for what it terms "an urgent national conversation about how to preserve public-service journalism in light of the likely sale of the Knight Ridder newspaper company," E&P has learned.

The call, which is being spearheaded by the national group's Northern California Chapter, continues: "News media play a vital role in ensuring a robust and transparent democracy, a role that is too important to be compromised by the quest for profits. SPJ believes that both journalists and the public need to discuss openly the societal implications of these kinds of business decisions, as several groups have done in recent weeks. "

According to the statement, SPJ believes that those directing the production of news "have an ethical obligation to readers every bit as significant as their fiduciary accountability to shareholders....

"We acknowledge that newspapers cannot serve their democratic role unless they stay in business. But the increasing corporate pressure to squeeze additional returns out of already profitable newspapers, at rates exceeding the margins in most other industries, has skewed the balance between journalism and commerce."

The statement continues: "Though there is disagreement about what should happen to Knight Ridder -- whose 32 daily newspapers, various Web sites and weekly publications provide news to millions of readers -- there is broad consensus within the journalism community that it should not be allowed to fall into the hands of those unwilling to guarantee the continuity of public-service journalism....


http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001918714

[cyberpj]

1. Excellent article. Needs discussion big time! nt.

[Angry Girl]

2. Excellent point. But ain't gonna happen.

Corporate Shareholder Profits trump Public Good every time.
It's the law!

(if you don't believe me, check out the film The Corporation - find it for FREE at http://www.independentmediasource.com/video.htm)

"News media play a vital role in ensuring a robust and transparent democracy, a role that is too important to be compromised by the quest for profits."

We could have said the exact same thing about vote counting and look where we are.

[blm]

3. ABSOLUTELY SUPER IMPORTANT ISSUE.

Please crosspost in GD - this is all about democracy!

[DeepModem Mom]

5. Done, blm! nt

[blm]

4. Send to all media blogs. VERY IMPORTANT.

.

[CarlWoodward]

6. This

This is an enormously important issue. I'm fortunate to have a Knight-Ridder newspaper in my city (The Fort Worth Star-Telegram) which does an excellent job of reporting unbiased, straightforward news. They also run much of the excellent coverage that has come out of the Knight-Ridder Washington Bureau in recent years.

The Star-Telegram is a welcome alternative to the ultra-right-wing Dallas Morning News across town, which is nothing more than a Bush Administration house organ.

We must do whatever we can to preserve the journalistic integrity of Knight-Ridder!

[wellst0nev0ter]

8. St. Paul Pioneer Press, not so much

another K-R newspaper but its as right-wing as you can get. Does good neighborhood-level local news, reprints important stuff by Landay and Strobel (DSM), but that's pretty much it.

[stickdog]

7. This is what we've been reduced to. Arguing about whether a

chain of newspapers with a modicum of journalistic integrity and diversity should be allowed to be swallowed up by a much bigger chain with no integrity or diversity whatsoever.

[Peace Patriot]

9. No! Not "reduced to"! Raised up! Up the Mountain of Freedom! Only

place to go is UP! And somebody's fighting to get us up off the ground, and back up that Mountain again! Praise them! Support them! Join hands with them to help each other back up toward journalistic integrity and true freedom of the press! Up off your butts! Up on your feet! Get back up! Thank them for the inspiration! Thank them for doing the work! We've got to start SOMEWHERE! Start here! Start now! Take that first step with them!

[UpInArms]

10. kicking this up for more readers to see

the reality of the shrinking media is absolutely the worst thing possible.

KN was the only US paper that spoke the truth before Iraq

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/iraq/intelligence/11809605.htm

Posted on Wed, Feb. 13, 2002
Bush has decided to overthrow Hussein
By Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott

WASHINGTON - President Bush has decided to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from power and ordered the CIA, the Pentagon and other agencies to devise a combination of military, diplomatic and covert steps to achieve that goal, senior U.S. officials said Tuesday.

No military strike is imminent, but Bush has concluded that Saddam and his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs are such a threat to U.S. security that the Iraqi dictator must be removed, even if U.S. allies do not help, said the officials, who all spoke on condition of anonymity.

"This is not an argument about whether to get rid of Saddam Hussein. That debate is over. This is ... how you do it," a senior administration official said in an interview with Knight Ridder.

The president's decision has launched the United States on a course that will have major ramifications for the U.S. military, the Middle East's future political alignment, international oil flows and Bush's own war on terrorism. Russia and most of America's European allies have expressed alarm about the administration's escalating rhetoric on Iraq.

The course also is fraught with potential military difficulties, with most experts on Iraq warning that a campaign there would not be as swift or virtually free of American casualties as Afghanistan. There, rebels of the northern alliance, backed by U.S. commandos and massive U.S. airpower, quickly overthrew the Taliban regime.

Nevertheless, one foreign leader who met Bush recently came away "with the feeling that a decision has been made to strike Iraq, and the 'how' and 'when' are still fluid," added a diplomat who asked not to be further identified.

...more...

[Vidar]

11. kick

[Nothing Without Hope]

12. ***SOME LINKS FOR BACKGROUND IN THIS STORY:

du 11/1/05 - IMPORTANT ALERT: BushInc may be making move to take down KnightRidder.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5234721

du 11/3 - **KnightRidder reporter warns of hostile takeover with a political twist**
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5256330

PI 11/3 - Knight Ridder gets an ultimatum
http://www.progressiveindependent.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=3543

11/15 Reluctant Knight Ridder to Explore Sale - Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-knight15nov15,0,3053759.story?track=tothtml

Attytood: News of the future: Defense giant with Bush, bin Laden family ties buys Philadelphia Daily News
http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002482.html

du 12/2 - McManus:Don't let corpo raiders liquidate the 4th estate (KnightRidder)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5504255

du 12/4 - NYT Frank Rich: "All the President's Flacks" - Woodward & gaming the Press (emphasizes the fawning flackdom of most of the US corporate press, and thus the need for more truth-telling venues.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x177366

I'll repost this as a reply to this post in PLAIN TEXT FORMAT to give full-length URLs.

[Nothing Without Hope]

13. Preceding link list in PLAIN TEXT FORMAT

du 11/1/05 - IMPORTANT ALERT: BushInc may be making move to
take down KnightRidder.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5234721

du 11/3 - **KnightRidder reporter warns of hostile takeover
with a political twist**
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5256330

PI 11/3 - Knight Ridder gets an ultimatum
http://www.progressiveindependent.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=3543

11/15 Reluctant Knight Ridder to Explore Sale - Los Angeles
Times
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-knight15nov15,0,3053759.story?track=tothtml

Attytood: News of the future: Defense giant with Bush, bin
Laden family ties buys Philadelphia Daily News
http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002482.html

du 12/2 - McManus:Don't let corpo raiders liquidate the 4th
estate (KnightRidder)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5504255

du 12/4 - NYT Frank Rich: "All the President's
Flacks" - Woodward & gaming the Press (Emphasizes the
fawning flackdom of most of the US corporate press, and thus
the need for more truth-telling venues.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x177366

[DeepModem Mom]

14. Thanks, Nothing Without Hope! nt

[snot]

15. Kicking, and thanks to Nothing W/o Hope for the links in 2 formats! nt