National News Is Coming From Fewer and Fewer Sources

I was on the road for a few days last week, and part of the fun in traveling is reading the various newspapers along the way. It makes you realize just how powerful the Associated Press is, for national news is about the same from one paper to the next, primarily because it was sent down the national wire by the AP. But it is fun to read the local news, and compare it to what is going on in our own area. It looks like everybody is against growth, everybody wants hi-tech industries to locate in their town, and the "watchdog" groups are now coming up with some unique new things to be against. But most of all, I enjoy the editorial pages for when you get outside Washington and New York influences, out in the heart of America, there are some strong voices that are not liberal.

I especially enjoy the editorial cartoons. Here in Georgia, we generally have to put up with anti-Bush editorial cartoons ... and I'll have to admit, both the Atlanta paper and our local daily carry some good ones so far as making their point is concerned. But there are a lot of excellent editorial cartoonists in the American newspaper world, and a lot of them lean conservative. So, when you're travelling you get a balance. But the editorial cartoons I like most are those that simply poke fun at politicians who take themselves a bit too seriously ... you know, those who have a little bit of know-it-all in their makeup, and the cartoonists bring them down to earth with a thud - Teddy Kennedy was in their sights last week; so was Hillary Clinton. But so was George W. Bush, and Colin Powell. Editorial cartoons are a great journalistic tradition in this country, going back to the era of the Civil War, and they are one thing newspapers have that hasn't been pre-empted by television.

But there's a disturbing note in all this. Traveling from one region to another, even one state to the next, there is a similarity to the news stories and the opinions, and that is especially true when you want information about national issues. The news stories come from a very few sources - AP, the New York Times, Gannett, a few others. And except for the latest murder, the six o'clock news is a carbon copy.

This is Gordon Sawyer, and may the wind always be at your back.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/8/174138