Newspapers may be a dying breed. I'd like to think they're not, but everything I read indicates we're in something of the near-death throes. I read a statistic that something like 8,000 jobs have been lost in the newspaper business just this year. The newspaper I worked for before taking a 9-month sabbatical to attend Cornerstone School of Ministry, keeps making layoffs. It sounds like I'll get my job back in June, but I'm still waiting for the final OK. Advertising revenues at the Wall Street Journal were down 33 percent in the first quarter. That's not good.
But imagine life without newspapers. Who would be watchdogging government? How would residents know what their local, state and national leaders are doing with their money? Who would be watching to ensure our leaders are not abusing their power? Another reason why we need newspapers came to mind today when I read this story from the St. Petersburg Times: That is, to afflict us in our comfort and to remind us how blessed we are in the context of the depths of human depravity. It's an extraordinary, heart-wrenching story about what happens when a child is abandoned -- in her own home. And about a couple's love for the child that is Christlike. I have a friend who works down there at the St. Pete newspaper who's getting laid off at the end of the month. He certainly won't be telling stories like this one.
Here's the story: http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/8313
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