Dan Rodricks: 'We Could Be Seeing a Real News Renaissance'

It isn’t all bad news, what’s happening to the news business, according to WYPR Radio personality and Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodricks.

Rodricks was featured Tuesday as the first Friends of Perry Hall Library guest speaker of 2013. He informed a crowd of about 70 of his perspective on the current state of the news media. He entertained with stories of old Baltimore news characters. He took questions that forced him to defend The Sun and his own opinions that he has voiced in his columns and on-air.

Jaymee Farinacci, president of the volunteer group, said of her guest’s columns, “they’ve made us chuckle, they’ve made us weep … but most of all they’ve made us think,” which perfectly framed Tuesday evening’s discussion at the Perry Hall Library.

Rodricks has seen the ups and downs of journalism over the course of his decades long career, which began when he was just 19 years old. 

“I’m very concerned about what’s going on,” Rodricks said pointing to today’s declines in newsroom staffing, circulation numbers and the replacement of facts with opinions.

“We’re drowning in opinions. … And it all starts to sound the same,” Rodricks said. He said he believed news consumers have become locked in, “an echo chamber of the like-minded. … At the risk of defending mainstream media, we are still engaged in gathering facts.”

He did point out the irony that he—an editorial columnist and radio talk show host—found the media too saturated in opinion.

Still, he hammered home that cutbacks have weakened the quality of today’s journalism.

He cited the recent Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism survey that supported his claims, noting that one third of news consumers have actually abandoned news media outlets altogether, discontent by slack coverage.

But it was in that finding that Rodricks drew a potentially positive conclusion.

“Lately, I’ve started to see a rebound,” he said, addressing the room.  “People aren’t satisfied with what we’re giving them. People want more.

“I might be engaged by wishful thinking,” he continued. [But] … we could be seeing a real news renaissance. … I certainly hope they figure it out.”

He drew comparisons to The Sun’s digital product, which updates much like the Morning and Evening Sun papers did in the ‘80s.

“This online model now that we have at the Baltimore Sun is awake almost 20 hours a day,” Rodricks said.

But at its core, Rodricks said the enterprising, investigative watchdog responsibilities of journalism have been diminishing. Quality journalism costs money and the question remains, Rodricks said, “Who is going to support it?”

No one in the crowd provided the answer. Instead they peppered their guest with questions about his beliefs toward death penalty repeal, ideological migration and The Sun’s purported political bias.

“On the masthead of The Baltimore Sun it says ‘Light For All.’ They’ve departed from that slogan a long time ago,” one audience member said. “The Sun papers have lost touch with people like me. I buy it for the coupons.”

(Note to self: Coupons as a means to support quality journalism.)

Rodicks countered, “I’ve been hearing that for years. …  [But] The editorial page over the years has been a moderate voice.”

He noted that The Sun editorial page currently features contributions from former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.  

“If it’s too liberal, then I just say don’t read it,” Rodricks concluded.

He went on to reminisce over Baltimore’s glory days in the news business.

Readers interested in seeing what the glory days looked like should watch "First Edition," a short-form documentary about The Baltimore Sun from the 1970s. The video, which features a cameo from Dan Rodricks, has been attached. 

“This was one of the most entertaining [discussions we’ve had],” Jaymee Farinacci, president of the Friends of Perry Hall Library, said. “His talk about the direction that the news is taking, the direction that especially print news is taking, I think that was the main topic. But at the same time, I think people just liked hearing his stories about Baltimore news.

“He is really a part of Baltimore culture and I think that’s what people were really enjoying just hearing stories about different characters,” she continued.

The volunteer group will next host former homicide detective turned mystery writer Ken Lang on April 9 and 7 p.m. 

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CORRECTION: Mystery writer Ken Lang will be appearing at the Perry Hall Library on April 9 at 7 p.m.