Writing

Bad news is everywhere for journalists nowadays. The American Journalism Review had a piece about the decline (or was it the demise?) of the regional bureaus in Washington, D.C. Signs are everywhere on the road to oblivion. I asked a former editor of mine: What do you do when you don’t know anything else? There will be room for writers and editors still, she assured me half-heartedly. I reckon that the appetite for the written word won’t subside. But it will all be electronic, mind you. But what I dread is the imminent death of the culture of investigative reporting. When you whizz by with the speed of light, will you have time to look and inspect the color of a rose? When you need to fill 24 hours of news, will you have time to think, to pause, to linger just a little bit more before you plunge into the craziness of it all?

So it goes.