No,
I don’t mean the Bible, although I read it every day.
But
for now, I’m referring to the newspaper.
“Ahh,
the newspaper,” you say. “You mean that old dinosaur of the printed era that’s
somehow managed to stay alive, despite its shrinking advertising revenue and a dwindling
subscriber base?”
Despite
rumors of its demise, the newspaper is surviving and in some instances,
thriving.
I know that’s the exception and
not the norm. According to a 2010 Harris Poll, 1 in 10 American adults say they
never read a daily newspaper, and only 2 of 5 read a daily newspaper, either
online or in print.
That’s really not surprising,
since Americans read less today. According to a 2007 study by the National
Endowment of the Humanities, reading levels among young adults has plummeted
over the last two decades. The average person between ages 15 and 24 spends 2
to 2 1/2 hours a day watching TV and 7 minutes reading.
So,
I was shocked but probably shouldn’t have been when I read that The Times- Picayune, the paper of New
Orleans, La., established in 1837 and winner of several Pulitzer Prizes, will scale
down its print edition to three days a week this fall, as will several other
newspapers owned by its parent company.
Newspapers
have long been a part of my life. Many times, after a day in elementary school,
I would wait on my front porch for the afternoon delivery of the Altus Times-Democrat. We subscribed to
several newspapers. Back then, the Daily
Oklahoman had a morning edition as well as an evening edition, The Oklahoma City Times. I devoured
both, as well as the morning edition of The
Lawton Constitution. Occasionally, Dad would purchase the Times Record News of Wichita Falls, TX,
but I looked with skepticism upon anything from the Longhorn State.
Sunday
afternoon, having feasted on Mom’s delicious pot roast, was given to reading
the newspaper. My brothers and father would divide out the sections of the
paper, and soon they would be strewn about the den, one section on the couch,
another across the recliner, each waiting to be read by one of us.
Today,
I subscribe to several newspapers and whenever I’m visiting another town or
city, I make sure to get a local paper, for each has its unique features
reflective of its constituency.
Newspapers
keep me aware of the world in which I happen to live.
As
blogger Tracey Dickerson has noted, it was the great Swiss theologian, Karl
Barth, who in an interview with Time Magazine in 1966, advised young
theologians “to take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But
interpret newspapers from your Bible.”
Barth
was reminding believers that although they are not to be of the world, they are
yet in it, and as such, they should know the world in which they live. Moreover,
Christians should be a discerning, reflective people.
But
believers certainly haven’t cornered the market on thinking. Whether you think
like a theologian or are simply a thinker, the newspaper can stimulate your
mind to a broader awareness of what’s going on in the world around you, whether
it’s news about the local community, municipal government, available jobs, the
nation, or broader geo-political issues that affect us all, often unknowingly.
Of
course, when Barth spoke those words, the internet didn’t exist, nor did CNN or
Fox News. We have access to news 24/7, through dozens of portals, more news than
we can digest.
It
shouldn’t be a question of either/or but an affirmation of both the internet
and the printed page.
The
question we must ask ourselves is, what’s the quality of the news reports we
are getting? Are we receiving information based on thorough investigative
reporting?
It’s
easy to watch any number of news talk shows. I do on occasion. While
interesting, and often hosted by knowledgeable and talented people, they are
usually, by the very nature of the ratings race, skewed toward drama, hype, and
superficiality.
The
challenge for newspapers is to provide the financial resources for quality
reporting, whether it’s reporting by a local or regional paper or one of the
major dailies.
How then can newspapers survive? Billionaire Warren Buffett,
who is in the process of purchasing 26 daily newspapers and has had success
with others, writes that newspapers fail when one more of the following factors
are present: (1) the town or city has more than one competing dailies, (2), the
newspaper is no longer the primary source of information for the readers, (3)
or the town or city does not have a “pervasive identity.”
Surviving and even thriving is a challenge, but it’s worth
the try, and that brings me back to Karl Barth. I’ve got my Bible in one hand:
I’ve read where it will last forever. It’s the newspaper which concerns me, for
without it, my application of the Bible to the world would be diminished.
Contact
David B. Whitlock, Ph.D. at drdavid@davidbwhitlock.com
or visit his website, www.davidbwhitlock.com
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