Blog John Nichols and Robert McChesney's fix for that whole dying-media thing

Even for those of us lumped in with the ever-changing mass called the media, the ubiquitous "the media is dying" storyline has worn a little thin. Not because it’s inaccurate, but rather because it’s probably time someone stepped up with some functional ideas instead of simply line-listing those entities no longer around. So it’s nice that Robert McChesney and longtime Capital Times columnist John Nichols have come forward with a book-length solution in The Death And Life Of American Journalism, which they’ll be discussing on Thursday, January 28 at 7 p.m. at the Goodman Community Center.

The plan the two are proposing banks on federal intervention and assistance. Yes, that's correct: the government will at least in part pick up the ink-stained tab. Whether or not you agree is beside the point; there really aren’t any casual observers when it comes to this topic. Without delving too much into the intricacies of the U.S. Constitution, the Founding Fathers afforded the press protections and freedom of speech so it could hold those in power accountable. If the folks who carry out this task are no longer around, we’re all affected—even if a broadsheet seems as anachronistic as a VHS recorder, or you’re perfectly happy receiving news from untrained amateurs who’ve never seen a (sic) they didn’t embrace.

The Death And Life Of American Journalism is certainly thorough, but it’s also so dense and chart-laden that the chances of anyone other than a media scholar picking it up are remote. That’s an issue, particularly since McChesney and Nichols would surely need all kinds of public support to ensure an idea like this doesn’t disappear within the egghead-y halls of journalistic academia.

If state-funded journalism gives you the creeps, or even if it strikes you as perfectly reasonable, this is an event worth checking out. I have some firsthand experience with McChesney—he taught at UW in the ’90s—and know that he’s eloquent, really damn smart, and always up for a debate. Go listen to what they have to say, then bug ’em about it. That is kind of the whole point, you know.

Here’s a recent clip of Nichols talking about the dreaded D-word: