Cognitive dissonance at 40th and 8th

This isn’t quite fair, but it invites some needed discussion.

Exhibit A: An op/ed in today’s New York Times:

“THE basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in January 1787. “And were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter.”

Today, we are dangerously close to having a government without newspapers. American newspapers shoulder the burden of considerable indebtedness with little cash on hand, as their profit margins have diminished or disappeared. Readers turn increasingly to the Internet for information — even though the Internet has the potential to be, in the words of the chief executive of Google, Eric Schmidt, “a cesspool” of false information. If Jefferson was right that a well-informed citizenry is the foundation of our democracy, then newspapers must be saved.

Exhibit B: The 10 most-emailed stories from the New York Times:

Personal Health: Babies Know: A Little Dirt Is Good for You
What Life Asks of Us
Coffee Linked to Lower Dementia Risk
Take Bacon. Add Sausage. Blog.
Maureen Dowd: Wall Street’s Socialist Jet-Setters
Self-Publishers Flourish as Writers Pay the Tab
What Do Women Want?
No Snickering: That Road Sign Means Something Else
Bob Herbert: The Same Old Song
Essay: Elevating Science, Elevating Democracy