Who is John Galt?
Before I read about The New York Times $400 million budget gap I was pretty optimistic about journalism’s future. But after reading that, I receeded into a journalism coma and stopped thinking about any of it all, conceeding to the fact that I must have picked the wrong life goals.
Ironically, I also just finished “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand, where the country is going through a similar, though far more dramatic, downturn. The America in “Atlas” doesn’t realize it needs to change and continues to spiral into a dark hole of despair. Granted the real America isn’t so dramatic, it’s hard to escape the idea that journalism is spiraling similarly into the same dark hole.
I read blogs and stories, at least three a week, prefaced with the same news of how much deeper and darker that hole has become. But only a handful of people really offer any viable solutions. Those people are shot down by doubters and naysayers or are conversely supported by followers and scholars. But almost no one actually does anything.
Some have jumped the proverbial journalism ship and started their own new online publications. One could say they’ve gone on strike. The fact that no large entity or considerable movement of people have done anything to help the situation astonishes me.
So instead of trying something drastic or really innovating in a noticeable way, the giants, the movers, slowly die all the while mainting a confused shrug.
There was a brief time this year when I thought improving the product or doing better journalism – whatever that means – could “fix journalism.” But I think I was wrong. The public does not trust us, many news sources do not deserve to be trusted; we apparently can’t invent to save ourselves, many news sources do not deserve to be saved. Those who do invent are ignored; those who should not be trusted ruined it for those who should be.
Journalism needs a John Galt. This year, as the inevitable doom and death of newspapers approaches, perhaps then editors and executives will be ready to listen and apply. Perhaps the naysaying role models and investors of the industry will quit saying “no” and start saying “do it.” Though by then, it will have been far too late. There is no saving, there is simply delay.
Maybe then, new journalism can take over and Phoenix out of the death (read, take over the slacking market share). Hopefully that’ll all happen before May so I will know where to go when I graduate.
But who is John Galt?