A Crisis in Perspective

Much has been said and written about the decline of traditional journalism over the last decade.

Each day newspapers that have been around for decades fold, writers and editors lose their jobs and conglomerates sell off or close what once were a primary news sources for many citizens.

Regardless of why it happened (arrogance, smugness, lack of creativity, hubris) the fact that we're now to desensitized to it is sad and frightening.

However, I think the downfall of journalism (forgive me if that was a little Glenn Beckian)comes not from the destruction of a common medium, but from the lack of ability to say "this is important because" by a fresh crop of journalists (my age) who live a world where stories are rarely told.

Instead, today, opinions are repeated, regurgitated, spread and then reported as fact. A lot of writing is reactionary and doesn't take into account the larger scale.

For example, UNC lost to College of Charleston last night. In a typical gamer, a writer would talk about the lack of Will Graves and Marcus Ginyard playing for UNC. They'd discuss guard play, turnovers and freshmen.

That's fine, but anyone who follows or covers UNC knows these things are a problem already.

Instead, writers need to learn to find more concentrated angles that give information about UNC that the reader can't get anywhere else.

Why didn't Deon Thompson foul late in the game? What was the strategy on the last possession in regulation? Why schedule a road game just days before ACC play, against an opponent that isn't national known but is more than solid?

It may be tough to write all of this in 45 minutes with an 12:15 a.m., deadline but this is where writing -- and more generally sports writing -- needs to go.

Don't give me results, give me depth. To me, that's what's missing in Journalism. An ability to discern between a story with perspective and a story without one.