Mr. Magazine

The bloggers and their websites have been filled of late with the news of the demise of journalism…real journalism, investigative journalism, journalism that matters, journalism that is necessary to run a democracy. We are told journalists have been exiting newspapers and are being replaced by soccer-mom journalists or what some like to call citizen journalists. News about Britney and Lindsy passes as journalism in this day and age. Is good journalism dead? Far from it. There is plenty of good, necessary journalism out there. All what you have to do is look in the right places.
One “right place” this week is Rolling Stone’s Feb. 7 issue. Even if you do not care about the cover story on Radiohead, three articles of good journalism caught my attention and I have recommended them to my students and colleagues alike. The first is The Fear Factory by Guy Lawson, the second is The New Nixon by Matt Taibbi and the third Blame Pedro by Tim Dickinson. Three articles worth much more than the cover price of $4.95.
So, yes it is getting harder to find journalism that is necessary, journalism that will have an impact on people’s lives, but it is still there. I am reminded by the biblical “parable of the weeds” where a man sowed good seed in the field, but at night an enemy came and sowed weed among the wheat. No doubt there is a lot of weed out there, but we can’t afford to give up now. There is still a lot of wheat. Tough it out and continue searching and recommending the necessity of journalism and thus journalism that matters. The three aforementioned articles, whether you agree or disagree with their points of view, are a prime example of journalism that matters and journalism that still cares to give a damn…