Standing For Journalistic Freedom

“In the end, does it really matter if newspapers physically disappear?  Probably not:  the world is always changing.  But does it matter if organizations independent enough and rich enough to employ journalists to do their job disappear?  Yes, that matters hugely; it affects the whole of life and society.” – Andrew Marr

Born this day in 1959, Andrew Marr is a British commentator, broadcaster, print journalist, one-time editor of The Independent, and longtime host of “The Andrew Marr Show” on BBC News. 

                            He reflects a worry shared by many who started as or continue to serve as journalists – that our newer generation of readers is forgetting about the valuable role that journalists have in a free society, and that funding for investigative journalism and newspapers as we long have known them is rapidly disappearing.   

“The business of funding ‘digging journalists’ is important to encourage,” he noted.  “It cannot be replaced by bloggers who don’t have access to politicians, who don’t have easy access to official documents, who aren’t able to buttonhole people in power.” 

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