Capital Times-Berry: Some media do their jobs well, so citizens should follow su

[bigtalkradiofan]

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/index.php?ntid=97529&ntpid=3

Bill Berry: Some media do their jobs well, so citizens should follow suit

By Bill Berry
The Capital Times
Published: September 5, 2006
Bill Berry, a veteran journalist, writes regularly for The Capital Times, with a particular focus on northern Wisconsin and rural issues.

How about radio news? There are still some crackerjack radio reporters out and about, some of whom still appear to work even harder than their print brothers and sisters. They are respected among their audiences and, I might add, influential in their communities. Otherwise, much of radio is a news wasteland, supplanted by talk shows that are often vicious, uncouth and full of untruths. My friends in the broadcast industry are still quick to defend the dismantling of the Fairness Doctrine, which bothered the heck out of them, but I think they are wrong, and the end results have hurt this country.

For statewide radio news, Wisconsin Public Radio continues to do a yeoman's job on a lunch-pail budget. People who don't take advantage of it and support it are failing as badly as the households that don't get newspapers, or at least read newspaper Web sites.

[Click link above for the complete newspaper article.]