Jonah Goldberg, who speaks tonight at UNC-Chapel Hill, offers thoughts in the latest National Review about the decline of the traditional news media:
There are aspects of this decline that make me sad. I like newspapers. A sizable fraction of my mortgage payments is dependent on the continued existence of newspapers. But I also think that the horse and buggy is a delightful conveyance and that whale-tallow candles have a splendid aroma. Life moves on.
That said, to listen to many people, you?d think God had ordained that there be a New York Times, a Washington Post, three big broadcast-news operations, and two newsweeklies, and that everyone should consider them the Word. ?I am the Lord thy God, and this is your media. You shall have no media before it.?
But the truth is that we are restoring what might be called the media-in-exile. For most of American history, the country was a hurly-burly of angry, loud, hyper-partisan media. The Founders thought long and hard about the role of the press and knew it was no staid affair.
Goldberg?s comments might remind you of another recent prediction about the rise of ideological media. Perhaps dog and cat people can find common ground.
