The Old WHDH-TV Channel 5 equipment (was Re: The courtship of NBC by the Herald-Traveler)

[Robert S Chase]

As I understand it originally newspapers in this country were started by, 
supported by, and took the positions of political parties. It was only with 
the rise of mass media in the first quarter of the 1900s where after the 
sensationalism to attract the reader there was a need not to offend the 
masses did professional journalism come as solution to maintain the business 
model. Although I don't necessarily agree with all the points in this 
excerpt http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2427/ nor with its conclusion 
necessarily, I do think it does a fairly good job of laying out the history 
of American journalism.

Here's my point, this business of ethical (read professional) journalism is 
a recent phenomenon which is fast being eroded by new business models. For 
the press, i.e., the paper papers, the internet is the major competition. 
Their business model of mass circulation is under attack. Query whether it 
can survive. Radio and television never actually replaces the written story 
because even if the sound bite is interesting, it never can give a complete 
story like a news piece in a text based news source for those who want to 
think and discern.

P.S. You know you are getting old when you refer to the period when you were 
growing up as the middle of the last century! <grin>