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It’s hard to keep track of all the challenges to journalism these days — financial constraints, political pressures, technological upheaval. Journalists must adapt. In our cover story, “Looking for Light,” Michael Shapiro tells of an effort to do so at The Philadelphia Inquirer. That storied newspaper, briefly free of corporate interference from a distracted Knight Ridder, is striking out in interesting directions. Even as editors and reporters adapt, though, it is healthy to keep in mind what can’t be abandoned in the throes of change — the complex and significant stories that a troubled world waits to hear. Iraq is Exhibit A, and the press has not yet shrunk from that story despite the cost — sixty-one journalists and twenty-three media workers killed as of mid-February. Thirty-nine more abducted, including Jill Carroll, the freelancer; scores more injured, including ABC’s Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt, gravely wounded by a roadside bomb in January. As Paul McLeary notes in his story on page 20, Iraqi stringers are filling a void, covering parts of Iraq where Westerners dare not go anymore. Journalists have had to adapt in Iraq, too, but they have kept faith with the core mission. We should all take note.
To read the articles in the March/April 2006 issue, click here.
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