It doesn’t seem too long ago that the daily newspaper was a necessity in any informed household. Many different sources are waxing philosophical about what has happened to the daily in our country. A former college professor and editor used to lament about having to compete with television and online news. Marketing people point to the cumbersome nature of the newspaper, how it is hard to read and needs to be more “user-friendly.” Hackish pundits accuse dailies of leaning too far right or left. Others point to the corporatization of media dictating that consumers would rather see some train-wreck celebrity’s baby than read about AIDS in Africa.
My answer is much simpler. The fall of dailies coincides directly with the rise in columnists (yes, I realize the irony of pointing this out in a column). Most sections of dailies have at least one, and sometimes as many as three columnists. Some run their star, egotistic columnist on the front page.
There is nothing wrong with a well-argued opinion piece. Opinion pages have always been a popular part of newspapers, but lately they are spewing onto all of the pages, and many times are not even about a social issue, important event or even something newsworthy at all.
I don’t care to read about someone’s breakfast habits, where they went on vacation last summer or what they think of the latest Samuel L. Jackson flick.
It is bad enough that these topics pass as news, but many columnists are venturing into the literary world. There is a theory that drivel sells because no one would possibly be critical of sappy, finding your true-self conversations with the less fortunate that put your self-indulgent life in perspective (I am looking at you, Mitch Albom!).
The fluffy subjects are not the worst part. Actual writing ability is going downhill as well. Groups of words that pass for sentences in columns would make high school English teachers cringe. One- or two-word sentences, fragments and one-sentence paragraphs are essential parts of many of our mediocre columnists’ repertoires. A professional column should not read like a 16-year-old’s chatroom conversation. OMG, 2 wurdz don’t make a sentence!!! LOL!
Even those who do tackle important subjects do so from the comfort of their computer desk. I have never heard of a columnist going to a government meeting before writing about an issue. Most rely on work that a reporter at their own paper has done and add a poorly researched opinion to the debate.
Newspapers have diluted their pool of future reporters by plastering pictures of these hyenas all over their pages. Students don’t go into journalism with aspirations of learning about government and keeping readers informed about their tax dollars. If they can craft off-the-wall, controversial or asinine pieces weekly, they can become stars without bothering to learn fairness, discretion or research.

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