Online Journalism News

Q&A: Freelancer calls on US newspapers and AP to shutdown websites for one week

In a bid to show the value of journalism newsgathering organisations in the US, freelance writer TJ Sullivan has created an online petition asking US newspapers and the Associated Press (AP) to switch off their websites for one week in July 2009.

Sullivan, a journalist for more than 20 years, was previously a staffer at four daily state newspapers before going freelance in 2004 - to fulfill a lifelong desire to write fiction and preempt the growing number of newsroom budget cuts and recruitment freezes in the industry, he says.

His petition is not aimed at saving newsprint, but about highlighting the relationship between supported newsgathering and democracy, Sullivan says. Journalism.co.uk caught up with Sullivan to find out more about his belief that drastic action needs to be taken.

What motivated you to start this petition?
[TJS] Websites that write for the American journalism industry seem to get it. They understand this situation is dire, but many of those outside the journalism industry, the sites that write for a more general audience, don't seem to have a clue.

One such response can be found at Wonkette: first off, this particular blogger mischaracterises the petition effort as being about saving newsprint when it's about saving newsgathering organisations, not the medium of paper. Let's be clear on that point: this is not about saving paper.

After that, the [Wonkette] blogger goes on to state that newspaper journalism is a 'profession of over-educated, overpaid typists', who during the past eight years conspired to look the other way 'while actual murdering criminals ran the White House'.

The issue at hand is about far more than the few newspapers that can afford to cover Washington, DC. The fact is that most American newspapers are located in small-to-medium-sized markets where they fulfill vital roles in their communities, the most important of which is covering local government - everything from PTA meetings to city councils and state legislatures.

Professionally staffed and ethically bound newspapers help to keep government honest at every level. Readers and bloggers must in turn help to keep their local newspapers honest, but some people have gone so far as to assert that newspapers can be easily replaced by volunteer bloggers, which is as ludicrous at the local level as it is at the international level.

What volunteer blogger covering the local city council is going to risk his or her family's well-being to pursue a story against the wishes of some scandalous corporate entity capable of financing an entirely baseless libel lawsuit, simply to silence a critic? Playing reporter isn't just some game.

The injustices exposed by journalists in even the smallest markets can cost crooks big money, and retaliation is often carried out against reporters in a variety of ways. Let's also not forget that in some countries reporters are murdered for publishing the truth. This is a real profession; this is serious work.

I began this petition for the same reason I became a journalist, because I'm incapable of remaining idle as bullies, crooks or fools seek to obfuscate people with lies and misinformation.

What do you hope it will achieve and why is this necessary?
I hope the goal of the petition is realised - that newspapers and The Associated Press actually unplug their websites for one week starting July 4 2009.

The reason it's necessary is because Americans need to be encouraged to care, or at least given a reason to ask 'why should I care?' People need to be made aware in a hurry of the colossal domino effect that the loss of newspapers is having on both democracy and every other type of newsgathering organisation.
 
The fact is, newspapers as newsgathering organisations produce the bulk of reporting in the United States. They're in towns large and small from coast to coast and border to border, in Alaska and in Hawaii. They cover places so small that the places aren't even officially designated as towns.

Yes, television and radio news reporters break plenty of stories, but, besides that, television and radio reporters follow newspaper reports far more often than newspapers follow TV and radio reports. TV and radio lack both the resources and the air time to do the job of newspapers.

I hope this petition, at the very least, results in more people becoming informed about the newsgathering and news-delivery processes. They need to realise that the work of newspaper reporters and newspaper photographers often ends up being regurgitated on the internet and through the Associated Press (AP). People need to know that, even though all the bylines are hacked off, there's still a publication out there that employed the people it took to produce those news reports.

On the internet the situation is worse: once online news is stripped of its brand and repackaged by countless unassociated providers, the public perceives the product as being free - it's devalued.

The internet most certainly represents the present and future of newspapers. No question about it. But there won't be a future if Americans in and outside of the journalism industry fail to recognise the problem for what it is and begin working together towards a solution.

Do you think any newspapers in the US will respond to this request?
I understood from the onset that this was going to be a hard sell. Journalists, by nature, avoid signing petitions at all costs. It's part of the journalistic code of ethics, to avoid the appearance of impropriety, to not take sides, especially when they stand to personally benefit from the outcome.

Think of efforts like this petition as a lifeboat, and the newspaper industry as the Titanic: the entire ship is occupied only by journalists, a thousand of them, when the vessel strikes an iceberg and begins to take on water. Everyone on board begins running around the deck, fully aware that their ship is sinking, but no one is manning the lifeboats.

Why not? Because they're journalists. They're more interested in shooting photographs, gathering quotes and covering it as a news event than they are in saving themselves.

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