How to Save Journalism

[Commentary] The good news first: the politicians and regulators who have it in their power to do something about the decline of American journalism are finally paying attention. Now for the bad news: the way the challenges facing journalism are being discussed, indeed the way the crisis itself is being framed, will make it tough for even the most sincere policy-makers to offer a viable answer to it. The assumption is clear: it's the Internet that's the problem. But just as MTV's debut pronouncement that "Video Killed the Radio Star" proved to be dramatically overstated, so is the notion that journalism's disintegration can be attributed to a brand-new digital revolution or even an old-fashioned economic meltdown. The decline of commercial journalism predates the web.

About John Nichols
John Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, has written The Beat since 1999. His posts have been circulated internationally, quoted in numerous books and mentioned in debates on the floor of Congress.

About Robert W. McChesney
Robert McChesney is Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois. He hosts the program Media Matters on WILL-AM every Sunday afternoon from 1-2PM central time. He and John Nichols, The Nation's Washington correspondent, are the founders of Free Press, the media reform network, and the authors of Tragedy and Farce: How the American Media Sell Wars, Spin Elections, and Destroy Democracy (New Press).