“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”—Thomas Jefferson
With newspaper readership and circulation continuing to drop, more and more local newspapers are being forced out of business. However, as a recent poll by the Pew Research Center indicates: “Many of those who say the closing of the local paper wouldn’t make much, if any, difference in their communities note that there are other news sources available.”
Young people, in particular, are more inclined to get their news from the internet. According to Pew, only 27% of those born after 1976 read newspapers, as opposed to 55% of those born prior to 1946. One person who believes the closure of the local paper would make no difference to civic life stated: “There are other forms of communication that are more important and easier to follow. I either go to television or turn on the radio in my car.”
There are, however, serious problems with this line of thinking. Continue reading.