Extra! Extra! Still Reading All About It

Just finished reading the latest edition of USA Today. Admittedly, I’m an incurable newspaper junkie. My first 10 years in journalism were as a newspaper editor; even though subsequent years shifted my work to magazines and books, there’s still nothing like the day’s newspaper resting crisply in my hands.

Newspapers have changed dramatically through the years – actually, centuries. The days of “hot off the presses” are long gone; slow, cumbersome hot-type presses were replaced midway through the 20th century by "cold type." “Extra” editions also became passé with the advent of television, especially cable TV. By the time newsboys could be hawking special editions on street corners, the broadcast media had scooped them hours earlier.

Computers slowly transformed newspaper writing, editing and production, starting with large, obelisk-shaped machines that morphed into the handy desktop machines we enjoy today. I still recall amazement at learning how desktop publishing software would replace clumsy manual page design that utilized galleys of type on white computer “film,” then waxed and pressed onto full-sized layout sheets.

USA Today became one of those “giant steps for mankind,” making splashy use of four-color photos and illustrations, along with satellite technology for transmitting entire editions to strategically located printing facilities, making daily distribution across the country a reality we now take for granted.

This “evolution” will continue. In time the newspaper, as I have known it, probably will cease to be. Generation X and the Millennials rarely read newspapers, except perhaps to clip coupons; one day school children touring the Smithsonian will marvel to discover newspapers once were produced on paper – newsprint – rather than presented on video and computer screens.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” Even though newspapers are becoming archaic, relics of ages past, I’m proud to have been a newspaper editor, reporter and photographer, devoted to providing fair and balanced news coverage to an interested readership.

The end has not come, but it’s nearing, I fear. For now, May the blog be with you!

Fear . . . and the Media

In his first inaugural address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” But he never heard about commercial jets flying into giant skyscrapers; bridges collapsing without warning; tainted peanut butter; crazed shooters on school campuses; spiking oil prices, or swine flu.

Or a relentless media that delights in preying on our fears.

In our ever-changing world we have learned to expect the unexpected. Swine flu’s the latest example; it certainly won’t be the last. Last week frenzied news reports sparked concerns that swine flu (now officially known as H1N1 virus) could become the 21st century version of the black plague. The world, as we knew it, seemed poised at the brink of calamity.

Not to belittle potential health risks, but common flu reportedly kills 36,000 people in the U.S. each year, yet somehow life goes on. I suspect the collective media had wearied of bantering about the economy and leaped at a chance to babble about anything different – at least temporarily.

How quickly our inner anxieties boil to the surface. Even if you’re not fearful now, just wait – the media will find something to worry us about.

If our trust is in the government, economy, or human nature, we have every reason to be afraid. But if our hope and faith are in God, fear need not be a constant companion.

In 1 John 4:18 it says, “perfect love drives out fear.” God’s love for us is perfect, even though our love for Him may not be. Despite global terrorism, disease, economic gloom and doom – or personal problems – we can trust Him without fail. As Hebrews 12:28 tells us, “since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”