This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 09, 2011 -This week's controversy at NPR and today's departure of CEO Vivian Schiller raise questions that are broader than the future of that organization.
Are Americans getting the news coverage they need to make wise decisions? Going forward, who will provide the reporting that helps people sort fact from spin, significance from fluff, good ideas from bad?
These are the fundamental challenges that lurk behind the NPR controversy and beneath the digital revolution in media in recent years.
Conservatives have long accused NPR of failing in its basic journalistic duties due to liberal bias. Schiller's forced resignation raises another question about NPR's independence - whether the board acted out of fear that federal funding will be cut.
Whether you believe NPR is the captive of liberal bias or the victim of political interference, its recent experience would seem to be a cautionary tale about the perils of public funding. Sooner or later, controversy arises and pressure mounts to alter content and management. I'd hate to rely heavily on public funding to fill the reporting needs of Americans.
But commercial media face their own problems. Newsrooms have shrunk. Partisan appeals have grown. I'd hate to rely solely on commercial media to fill these reporting needs either.
Nor do the legions of bloggers and advocates online offer a good alternative. There, assertions take on a life of their own. The very notion that facts can be established by careful reporting seems to be in dispute.
Yet beneath all this turmoil, a promising new journalistic ecosystem is developing, and the Beacon represents an important piece of it. As a nonprofit news organization supported primarily by St. Louis donors, we have the wherewithal to focus on news that matters to our region.
The digital revolution that set off the turmoil in media has also provided unprecedented opportunities for creating and sharing high quality reporting. Many experiments are underway in how to make these efforts economically viable.
That work requires, first and foremost, widespread appreciation that independent, vigorous reporting is important. The events at NPR are yet another reminder of just how urgent it is to spread the word, just how important it is to move forward.