The financial wizards who have been empowered to address our economic woes do more than just testify before Congress and appear on every talk show they can find. They tell us who’s “too big to fail.” General Motors, whose Hummer is the poster child for conspicuous consumption and meaningless macho, is “too big to fail.” AIG, which bears more than a bit of the blame for the mess we’re in, is “too big to fail.” I guess size does matter to today’s bureaucrats. But does anyone say of America’s great but endangered newspapers, “They’re too important to fail?” The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, published from 1863 (that’s before the Civil War was over) until last month. Its online progeny’s news staff has 20 professionals, compared with the now-defunct print version which had 165. The Rocky Mountain News ceased publishing on February 27, after nearly 150 years. The once-venerable (it hasn’t really been “venerable” since Tribune Company bought it from the Chandlers) Los Angeles Times, and its sister paper, the Chicago Tribune, are part of a corporation in Chapter 11. Community papers, while generally faring better than their big-city metropolitan counterparts, are not always successful. Here in Our Valley, the Sun trio (Studio City, Sherman Oaks, and Encino) ceased publication late last year. In the past, when we’d speak about a newspaper folding, it meant halving its size; today it has a totally different meaning The complete list of newspapers that have failed or are in bankruptcy is depressingly long. But why should we care? It’s not about the nostalgia for an old brand; the tradition of reading the paper over the morning jolt of java; the delivery system for great columnists; it’s about the absolute necessity for the role of watchdog that newspapers play in our society. There are plenty of news sources out there. Thirty minutes of network news each evening, all-news radio stations, all-news cable services, online news sources and blogs a virtual glut of news. But are we getting more than headlines, opinion, and subjective reportage designed to promote a preconceived point of view? Rarely. But what about the daily newspaper’s other features? Sports? There’s more coverage of actual event on TV than the newspapers have ever brought us. Entertainment? Sensationalistic as it is, there’s plenty of that around although what we get is more of where Lindsay Lohan is clubbing this week than how those in the industry in Los Angeles are faring in these days of runaway production. Columnists? We can still read Al Martinez and others online, through their blogs, or community papers like the West Valley News. Reviews of movies, restaurants, plays, and books? Nope; also plenty online. Editorials, op-ed pieces, and letters to the editor? No, we’re saturated with opinion from Bill O’Reilly to Jon Stewart to Rush Limbaugh. What we’re all going to be poorer without can be summed up in two words: investigative journalism. Both historically and currently, no other medium has come close to meeting the standard of investigative journalism brought to us by that perilously endangered newspaper thrown on our driveway each morning. When it comes to elected officials acquiring or spending money inappropriately (and in many cases, illegally); big business failing to recall a product they know is dangerous because it’s profitable; or labor bosses living luxuriously on the funds they’ve skimmed from the union; no one does the job like a newspaper. Just in the past few weeks, the Los Angeles Times, which has received more than a bit of skewering from this column, has broken stories on fraud in in-home care programs; more-than-questionable expenditures by State Senator Gil Cedillo; seemingly-cavalier ignoring of California’s Brown Act by elected bodies; the resignation of Carrie Lopez, the director of the state’s Department of Consumer Affairs for using government money inappropriately; the exposure of Tyrone Freeman of the SEIU union for misappropriating funds for his own use; and perhaps almost humorously, the necessity of our Board of Supervisors to have water bottles labeled with their own logo. Why are newspapers important? Just read the official Pulitzer Prize citations awarded to newspapers for investigative journalism over the past four years, and ask yourself what other news source would provide the resources and commitment to bring these stories to light: 2009: “The Las Vegas Sun, notably Alexandra Berzon, for exposing the high death rate among construction workers on the Las Vegas Strip.” 2008: “Walt Bogdanich and Jake Hooker of The New York Times for their stories on toxic ingredients in medicine and other everyday products imported from China, leading to crackdowns by American and Chinese officials.” 2008: “Staff of Chicago Tribune for its exposure of faulty governmental regulation of toys, car seats and cribs, resulting in the extensive recall of hazardous products and congressional action to tighten supervision.” 2007: “Brett Blackledge of The Birmingham News for his exposure of cronyism and corruption in the state’s two-year college system, resulting in the dismissal of the chancellor and other corrective action.” 2006: “Susan Schmidt, James V. Grimaldi and R. Jeffrey Smith of The Washington Post for their indefatigable probe of Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff that exposed congressional corruption and produced reform efforts.” 2005: “Nigel Jaquiss of Willamette Week, Portland, Oregon for his investigation exposing a former governor’s long concealed sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old girl.” We should care about the near-demise of the American newspaper not because there are no other news sources, but because major daily newspapers have been the public’s eyes and ears, exposing corruption, mismanagement, government excess, and scams. “Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.” — Napoleon Bonaparte _____________________________ Martin Cooper is President of Cooper Communications, Inc. He is President of the Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission, Founding President of The Executives, Vice Chairman-Marketing of the Boys & Girls Club of the West Valley, and a member of the Boards of the Valley Economic Alliance and of the LAPD’s West Valley Jeopardy Program. He is a Past Chairman of VICA, Past President of the Public Relations Society of America-Los Angeles Chapter, and Past President of the Encino Chamber of Commerce. He can be reached at [email protected].