The newspaper renaissance of Sept. 11 ? and beyond

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Journalism jobs were being cut left and right. Profitability was down, way down. Newspapers faced consolidation and constant debate about the newspaper industry's future viability due to the convergence of mediums. That was the newspaper landscape before the life-changing horror of Sept. 11. |ret||ret||tab|

The new verdict? Newspapers still matter a lot. |ret||ret||tab|

How do we know? The N.Y. Times tripled its press run to more than 1 million copies in the five days after Sept. 11. Large metro dailies are posting substantial quarterly gains for the first time in several years. |ret||ret||tab|

Members of a generation that would rather click away online than get their fingers dirty with newsprint are subscribing to newspapers for the first time in their adult lives. Copies of the Sept. 12 editions are tucked away as keepsakes for future generations, probably resting atop the carefully saved first newspaper of the millennium. |ret||ret||tab|

We've seen the return of our sense of purpose. This happens from time to time, when huge stories emerge. Think of the benchmark events in journalism over the past 10 years O.J., Oklahoma City, Columbine, Clinton-Lewinsky, Y2K, the 2000 Presidential Election, Condit-Levy. All of these remarkable events in American history took their turns injecting new life into the American press. |ret||ret||tab|

In between, we were forced to cover the fluffier issues of the day, like why Tom Cruise is getting a divorce or who will be the next to get kicked off the island on "Survivor." For now, information reigns over entertainment value. This reality would indicate that newspaper readers also have risen to the occasion. |ret||ret||tab|

And we learned a few things. The post-Sept. 11 coverage is the ultimate classroom, a previously unheard-of chance to address everything from front page design to ethics in image selection to how to cover a war in progress. Which pictures do we run? How do we localize a story that has such a stunning global impact? How do we use the elements of design and reporting to deliver the story while remaining true to a particular newspaper's mission? |ret||ret||tab|

There also are new standards for grief coverage. I learned as a young reporter that it is impossible and ill-advised to try to divorce your own emotions and empathy from covering trauma and grief, but the rest of the world of journalism didn't share my way of doing things until now. |ret||ret||tab|

Here's the new wisdom discovered during the Sept. 11 coverage: Keep bias out of reporting and do your job with head held high. If tears streak down your face, don't worry about it. If you have to sink your head into your hands because you can't look at another photo of a funeral or the towers sinking into the earth, walk away until you can. Don't make the mistake of trying to train your humanity out of your writing and reporting. |ret||ret||tab|

One tremendous benefit to journalists themselves is that finally the world is starting to realize that the people who write, photograph, report and edit the news suffer from the endless input of negativity and horror.|ret||ret||tab|

Don't ever forget that any time you peruse the paper, log on to a news site or watch the news, someone on the other end may have suffered so you can see history. |ret||ret||tab|

Think I'm over-dramatizing the effects that covering both high and low profile traumas have on journalists? I've talked to journalists who were at ground zero, who cheated death that day but bear tremendous psychological wounds. One journalist I met said he showers several times a day, trying to remove the odor of the carnage from his skin. Another is awakened at night by visions of unimaginable horror that he registered on that new day of infamy.|ret||ret||tab|

Yet now we're on the threshold of something more than a heyday. It's a new byproduct brought about by a time of unprecedented change. Newspapers and newspaper journalists are taking a new level of pride into 2002, one that won't be stifled by Wall Street pressure to pad the bottom line. |ret||ret||tab|

There's a new spirit of excitement and objectives. We're hoping that you, the readers, will be there with us to enjoy this renaissance. |ret||ret||tab|

(Christine Ballew-Gonzales is a free-lance writer.)[[In-content Ad]]