No, The Death Of Newspapers Does Not Mean An Age Of Corruption

from the let's-think-this-through-a-bit,-shall-we... dept

A few folks have sent in Paul Starr's long but thoughtful article in The New Republic, which worries that, thanks to newspapers dying, we'll be entering a new age of corruption, since no one will be watching government officials like investigative reporters have in the past. The article is well worth reading, and brings up a number of interesting points -- but, in the end, fails to make a compelling case for a number of reasons -- most specifically that it relies on both a faulty model of news production and a faulty understanding of economics. This isn't to knock Starr or the article, because the mistakes are subtle, but important.

The first mistake is in looking at news production itself -- and specifically investigative reporting. Starr seems to significantly overestimate how much investigative reporting newspapers do. In fact, investigative reporting is a fairly new phenomenon and has never been a major focus of newspapers. Those bemoaning the supposed "loss" of this function don't seem to recognize how little money has been put towards such investigative reporting in the past. As that second link suggests, most newspapers spend more on their comics pages than on investigations.

Furthermore, the article brushes off the fact that the increase in information out there, and the ability for almost anyone to consume different media, means that a lot more people can participate in the process itself. Starr does mention some of this, but seems to brush it off without a deeper investigation. And that leads to quotes like the following:
Altogether, according to the governor's office, the number of full-time statehouse reporters in New Jersey has fallen from more than fifty to fifteen in the past decade. That is a lot fewer pairs of eyes to keep watch over state agencies.
Which of course assumes that the only people who can monitor government agencies are reporters. That's simply not true. There are many more "eyes" watching over state agencies -- it's just that they don't do it as a full-time job. That doesn't mean that as a group they're somehow less effective. If well organized, they can be much, much, much more effective -- enabling multiple people to assemble different pieces of the puzzle and work together as a team to unearth problems. This is often brushed off as useless because some of those people might be "biased" or have an "agenda," but, in practice, that issue is often negated. Those with obvious biases or agendas are usually pretty quickly outed.

So, while the nature of the beast may change, there's little evidence that corruption will suddenly be free to roam. Especially in the political realm, where there's so much interest in digging up "dirt" on opponents, it's increasingly hard to keep corruption secret.

The second mistake is much more subtle and quite easy to understand. It's in focusing on the idea that "news" is somehow a public good. Much of the discussion, then, about public goods is based on an older understanding of public goods and what that implies from an economic standpoint. But, that thinking on public goods has gone through something of an economics revolution in the last decade or so, with much of the research being so recent that plenty of well-known economists are still digesting it. The claims that public goods are necessarily "under-produced," because there isn't enough incentive for private providers to supply them, knowing that there will be free riders, is looking less and less true -- especially when it comes to information.

That mistake is based on a simple misconception (which many still hold), that the business model needs to be about the public good itself. When the product is information, that's not true. You can use the information itself to create different business models, by effectively bundling the information (or infinite) good with a corresponding scarcity. In fact, that's exactly what newspapers have done for years, in reality. They've used the information to attract a community -- and then sold that community to advertisers. The problem newspapers face isn't that they're producing a public good -- it's that they never fully realized that they were selling their community's attention, and were unprepared when that community found other places to go.

Starr, unfortunately, only focuses on "non-market" production of public goods, using Yochai Benkler's excellent discussion on "The Wealth of Networks." That's a useful starting point, but it's hardly the end of the discussion. Through bundling and creative business models, you can very much create very strong market production of such infinite goods (which are misnamed "public goods"). The issue is just setting up those proper business models, and we're starting to see more and more examples of those pop up every day.

When you correct for both of these mistakes, you realize that the widespread participation of the community, combined with newer business models for the production of such infinite goods, allows such "investigative reporting" to be done more cheaply -- while actually providing an even larger revenue stream. I recognize that last statement seems like a bit of a leap of faith (especially to those who are worrying about dying newspapers), but as you look through the economic evidence, it's difficult to find a market that wasn't greatly enlarged by the injection of more "infinite goods," combined with a more efficient system for participation.

Don't fear the changes that are coming. They may take a little while to sort out, but the opportunities are huge, and they will be too tempting for some to pass up.
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Filed Under: business models, corruption, economics, investigative reporting, journalism, news, paul starr


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2009 @ 11:26am

    More ways to get info

    In Mike's point no. 1, it should be added that the dwindling number of New Jersey state-house reporters doesn't mean less oversight.

    In the past, you had to go to the state house to get the info; now, it's available on government web sites, Lexis-Nexis and so on (a great example is recovery.gov - this distribution of info was unheard of 10 years ago).

    Just because there are less reporters in the press room doesn't mean there is less oversight.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jake, 26 Feb 2009 @ 11:31am

    "a more efficient system for participation"

    Mike, great article.
    A. Would love more concrete examples of "infinite goods" -- I feel like I have a limnal understanding of what you are talking about here. Might be because I have a head cold today.
    B. Do you think a more efficient system for participation is being represented currently by Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc...? Are these enabling technologies for what you're talking about?
    Cheers.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Stev, 26 Feb 2009 @ 12:02pm

    Newspapers have been dead for a long time

    Investigative reporting only happened when it increased readership, since all they care about is the benjamins or it aligned with the editors philosophy. Come to think of it even the face of the benjamins (Franklin) used the artful dodger to get his message out!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2009 @ 12:04pm

    There might be more eyes but what about voices? Think someone posting about corruption in govt. in a blog has the same voice as in the New York Times?

    I once posted something about a police chief and an investigation that was pretty bogus. I mentioned a conflict of interest in the investigation. A few months later, I was visited by two police officers of the same city asking me about my post (which was interesting, because I had posted anonymously, but hey, IP address's can be traced) A month after that I was visited again and questioned. A 3rd visit would have resulted in a call to the EFF, but it never happened.

    Do you think they would have sent two police officers to the New York Times? Local politics can be pretty nasty. So yeah, I think that with fewer newspapers or large organizations reporting them, those in power will feel free to do pretty much what they want much easier.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike (profile), 26 Feb 2009 @ 12:08pm

      Re:

      There might be more eyes but what about voices? Think someone posting about corruption in govt. in a blog has the same voice as in the New York Times?

      No, they don't have the same voice, by themselves, as the NY Times, but that's not mutually exclusive. The point is that if the story has legs, other sources (perhaps including the NY Times) picks up on it.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Michial, 26 Feb 2009 @ 12:56pm

    Death or "organized News" is welcomed

    For the most part the Death of the new media and the birth of the internet news reporting is probably a good thing overall. The news media rarely seems to be unbiased anymore, and more and more seems to be about making money than about reporting the news.

    There is only a few areas that the big News Media has coverage that is not easily covered by the average blogger, and it's the biggest area of concern.

    Polititians, and especially the president can block/prevent anyone from getting near them, with the exception of the large news organizations. So if the news reports are eventually replaced with the average blogger, then the politicians will have even more control over those reporting on them because they will of course only allow the "friendly bloggers" near them.

    This is my only real concern about the downfall of the media.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2009 @ 1:01pm

    Who cares about the president? Do you think he is running things?

    I am more worried about state officials that feel free to do as they want.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    batch, 26 Feb 2009 @ 1:55pm

    newspapers are fail

    where were they during the Bush administration? oh wait, I remember, they were right there with the television news reporters asking stupid soft questions and allowing officials to either not answer the question and instead talk about something else or give a bs answer that anyone with common sense would be crying foul over. "Investigative reporting" what a joke.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2009 @ 2:28pm

    We are in an 'Age of Corruption' now. Should we be blaming the newspapers for 'not doing their job'?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Chris Meadows, 26 Feb 2009 @ 3:27pm

    It certainly wasn't newspapers…

    …who broke the story of the falsified letters that led to Dan Rather's resignation.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Osno, 26 Feb 2009 @ 3:27pm

    Media is a good, and an infinite one at that (0 cost)

    Sorry to state this bluntly, but using newspapers as a control for government corruption is a joke. Newspapers tend to be aligned to whichever politician suits them, and they oversee stuff based on the same scale of power that politics use. Blogs are far more neutral, or at least more plural. Just as an example, the two most important newspapers of Denver (don't remember the names, I've been there a long time ago) are one republican and one democrat and owned and managed by the same corporation. The newspaper business is a business and, as stated before, they only care for money. Blogging may not have the force, but that's a cultural thing. Once people start to find trustworthy blogs and start giving them credibility, things will get worse for the established easy to buy media.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Seth Finkelstein, 26 Feb 2009 @ 3:39pm

    Fantasy vs. Reality Scenario

    This is what a call a "Fantasy vs. Reality" scenario.

    One starts by detailing all the ways reality is ugly, complicated, messy, doesn't work well at all.

    Then spin fantasy about how the new world will work. There's no ugly, complicated, messy component, since it's all an invention.

    Win. Nobody can disprove it, since the problems of reality are manifest, while the fantasy can be bolstered with more fantasy.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Erik, 26 Feb 2009 @ 4:46pm

    Media no longer needed

    I think it's obvious that we have entered a new age in which our government is no longer in need of oversight. After all, President Obama has already shown himself to be capable of investigating his own administration. "> The fact that he found no wrongdoing is a refreshing example of a new era in politics.
    When our government genuinely cares about our happiness, we have nothing to fear. Right?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2009 @ 7:27pm

    A New Age of Corruption

    from the let's-think-this-through-a-bit,-shall-we... dept -> "The New Republic, which worries that, thanks to newspapers dying, we'll be entering a new age of corruption, since no one will be watching government officials like investigative reporters have in the past."

    Not at all egotistical - huh?

    What? There will more corruption than there is today?
    I never thought of the jounalism profession as the last bastion of defense against the evils of corruption, but maybe that is true. But even if it is, I doubt the loss of corporate media would make things any worse than they already are.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    The Watchdog, 27 Feb 2009 @ 5:45am

    One other counter point.

    The government's own accountability infrastructure has also gown over time. Specifically, to follow the N.J. example, the last 2 years have seen the creation of a state Inspector General and Comptroller, with a combined staff of around 40 to dif into state and local spending. Three N.J. counties have their own I.G.s, and fourth has been proposed. While they can't totally substitute for reporters who work outside the system, the increase in the number so people paid by taxpayers to keep an eye on government activities can lessen the blow if big-paper investigative journalism really goes the way of the dinos.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Gene Cavanaugh, 27 Feb 2009 @ 12:05pm

    Investigative reporting

    RIGHT ON, Michael! To which I will add; the newspapers are owned (or, at least, operated) by wealthy people, often very conservative, and arguably biased (according to a story I read in Newsweek (sorry, no cite) some reporters in Florida were fired, they claimed, for refusing to lie about the news - it was thrown out of court, but questions remain .......
    In any case, much of the "investigative" reporting, to me, is not in the mainstream thought, or even accurate.
    With the community, the biases, not being controlled by a single entity, tend to even out; plus many people "just believe" what they read in the newspaper, but question blogs.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Feb 2009 @ 2:01pm

    Newspapers are conservative? Really? Ever look at the NY Times, Washington Post or pretty much any other big newspaper?

    Conservative is not a word I would use to describe those publications.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Tim Moe, 17 Mar 2009 @ 1:34am

    Not a Mistake

    "The second mistake is much more subtle and quite easy to understand. It's in focusing on the idea that "news" is somehow a public good."

    This is not a mistake. Freedom of the press was written into the constitution for a reason. It is not just for the disemination of information. We are in danger of losing our liberties, and are totally oblivious. We are becoming a nation of moronic sheep. We need to be connected to our local communities in order to participate in representative government. There is no way that an 'online' service can substitue for what newsapers have done.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    denise`, 19 Mar 2009 @ 3:00pm

    hi

    okk yopu guys news paper thing is horrible all about lies i am not sacred to spaek the truth so if i was you i would change this crap

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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