The Fall and Rise of Media

This isn't about ethics, per se, but David Carr's latest column makes anyone contemplating the field think long and hard about that choice. Ostensibly, Carr is lamenting the "feeling of age, of a coming sunset...in publishing." Media giants are falling, and some new paragidigm will join, if not replace them. Internet killed the print media star, and so forth. The theme is certainly nothing new, but Carr's immense talent and gift for words makes the take seem uniquely his.

Saying it's a lament is selling the column short, however. Yes, there is a bit of nostalgia and remorse, but also marveling at the Internet-driven media that has challenged the titans of the industry, and approval of a Google-like efficiency that the old paradigm lacked. But ultimately, it all comes down to this: Those of us who covered media were told for years that the sky was falling, and nothing happened. And then it did.

Indeed. At the end of the piece, Carr alludes to the entrepreneurs and young people who will surely reshape the industry; energetic youngsters who, armed with the tools of the day, will create smarter, better, faster media outlets. But while Carr says that what might appear to be a desolate landscape is for these budding journalists a New York media riding a "fresh, ferocious wave," one can't help but think there is institutional knowledge that we invariably lose when the Associated Press, The Times and others layoff longtime journalists.

In this respect, the piece does make me consider ethics. How will they change when the movers and shakers don't understand why it's so important to spell names correctly, or not to accept swag, or not to have coverage determined by business interests.

Perhaps that's insulting or dismissive or unnecessarily pessimistic. But I think it's very real, and it's the reason that all semester I've advocated looking at some of these issues through the lens of the current reality. Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic might seem an overly alarmist analysis of the current media predicament, but with every layoff it seems just a bit more prescient.