The Press to American Society
What is the meaning of the newspaper to American society?
Philip L. Graham, former president and chief executive officer of The Washington Post, once said, “News is the first rough draft of history.”
While a newspaper may serve as an investigative medium, its ultimate directive is to inform all reaches of a society about important events that affect them.
As Graham notes, news, and by extention, newspapers, are a record of history. They are a method of documentation for the purpose of educating a contemporary audience and providing reference to a future one.
Long before Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram became considerable forms of media, newspapers were easily the most widely consulted form of news.
They provide the ultimate model of free press to our nation.
While social media appears to uphold freedom of press, posts, websites, and other forums can be removed at any time for not adhereing to the beliefs, ideas, or standards of the site on which it was posted.
As a published, tangible medium of news, a newspaper is not faced with these same constrictions.
Even in a place as small as Catholic University, where the audience is limited, news is essential.
Students, alumni, faculty, and staff deserve to know facts about what goes on here, and how it effects them.
The legacy of a newspaper will not be defined by the stories, scandals even, that it broke, but by its ability to effectively convey those, and any other stories, to its readers.
This is the duty of the newspaper to American society.
