The Literature Network - Reforming the Fourth Estate.(criticism of sensational journalism)

Reforming the Fourth Estate.(criticism of sensational journalism)

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From: World and I
Date: 20030401
Author:Smillie, Dirk

Henry David Thoreau once had a few choice words for the broadsheets of his day. "I am sure that I never read any memorable news in a newspaper," he wrote. If readers learn of "one steamboat blown up, or one cow run over on the Western Railroad, or one mad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers in the winter--we never need read another. One is enough. If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad instances and applications?"

Front-page excess has always piqued powerful critics. Why, then, does journalism yield so spotty a record when it comes to ...

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