Why we need Alec Baldwin

By Michael J.W. Stickings

To defend The New York Times, and newspapers generally, which he does here. I generally read newspapers, including the NYT, online, but from time to time I like to pick one up and read it as it used to be read, including my local paper here in suburban Toronto. The future, much more so than the present, is digital, and virtual, but I do hope there is a future for old-school journalism, and that, to that end, the apparent demise of the newspaper industry, including the possible collapse of institutions like The Boston Globe, is halted, and reversed. Of course, the industry deserves much of the blame for what is happening to it, for example, by being so slow in responding to the rise of the Internet, but we, too, we media consumers, are at fault for failing to recognize the ongoing value of print media in their non-virtual form. Tear your eyes away from the screen in front of you, now and then, from your television or your computer, and get back to basics. There's something remarkably invigorating about doing it the old-fashioned way.

And, yes, I know, I say all this as a blogger, in a blog post, at a blog, in the blogosphere, on the Internet, with an eye on the TV. There's room for balance, though, and, thankfully, not all my media consuming takes place in this post-print world.