THE ISSUE: Without journalism, who gathers the information?

OUR OPINION: Free content without free press isn’t worth much

The point is the same as discovered two decades ago by the telecommunications industry: New ways of distributing information are great, but there still have to be those gathering the information.

Consider all the forecasts today of journalistic demise. They are not good news for a world that is amid an information revolution — because where there is information overload, there is the need to determine what is reliable and what is not.

If that sounds like newspaper gospel, you’re reading it right. But in this instance, we’re referencing the assessment of Erich Bridges, a global correspondent writing in the Baptist Courier, a publication affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

His article in the June 11 edition is titled “A World Without Newspapers?” In a nutshell, he reports asking ministers how they get their information, with nearly all agreeing they spend too much time searching without finding enough of what they need.

“They want handles, context, practical tools they can use to get their families and churches involved in the wider world,” Bridges says.

He points to newspapers — and more particularly to the journalists that make them go — as the place to find information.

“For all their biases and shortcomings, good newspapers tell us what is happening, where and when it’s happening, and, often, why it’s happening. They summarize the world and give us options for responding to onrushing events. With a newspaper in one hand and a Bible in the other, we can cut through the clutter, get to the heart of the matter, and act.”

We’ll stop short of judging just how one is to balance the Bible and the newspaper but continue with his point about what will happen if newspapers — and journalism as we know it — fade away in the Internet era of blogs, social media and other new forms of digital interaction.

“Is Google opening news bureaus overseas? Will Facebook send reporters to cover the next war or natural disaster, or investigate corruption in your local government?

“The big Web portals still get most of the news they offer to you from major newspapers and international wire services. If those news organizations cease to exist, where will the Web portals get the news of the world that pops up on your home page or mobile phone?”

Let’s say Americans’ answer to that question is “foreign sources.” This international correspondent has a warning.

“Keep in mind that freedom of the press doesn’t exist in many places. The majority of the world’s population lives in 125 countries where the press is ‘not free’ or only ‘partly free.’” He cites a new Freedom House study for that information.

“ ‘Not free’ may also describe the overseas personal blogs and social media you follow.”

The bottom line: “‘Free content’ without a free press is worth what you pay for it: not much.”

He challenges Baptists to buy newspapers, read them and pass them on to a “young person in search of knowledge and understanding.”

Why? “You can’t make an impact on your mission field — which is the world, from your town to the ends of the earth — unless you understand it.”

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