Paul Starr's valuable, extensive piece for The New Republic (disclosure: owned by our parent company) is one of the most literate, well-argued laments for the loss of stature for the American newspaper.
It is a long essay --- nine screens, plus comments --- so a summary of it is hardly justice-rendering. But the Princeton scholar touches on what is lost as the newspaper diminishes as a central media force in communities, as a form of providing accountability upon institutions, and as a vehicle of responsibility. That responsibility remains, he argues.
