The Business of Media

Stefanie Toth
st135906@ohio.edu

It's funny that I have spoken about the conflict between business and journalism in a few classes this year. The interesting thing about this subject is the idea that business should not interfere in news gathering, yet news gathering and reporting would not exist without money.

The major problem with the newspaper industry in America is editors and businesspeople argue over the right way to present the news. The sad fact is they don't understand each other. The editor doesn't care about money, except when it comes to keeping the newspaper alive. The CEO expects to make a profit from the minute the news hits the web.

Whoever made the decision to place print stories online for free was using the wrong business model, plain and simple. This is how I personally view it because, in the end, it hurt more to give away the facts.

I came into this profession to write informative news stories for the public. It saddens me to know the public doesn't want to support the media and pay a dollar or two for the work they do(and I don't mean a large-scale profit model). It can be compared to the whole issue of illegal downloading. After all, the music didn't appear out of thin air.

My solution to this problem is to convince the public that our news is better than anything found online, or basically it's worth paying the money. Bloggers and other online sources keep slipping up and eventually the public will have to realize that is why the real, professional journalist exists.