This program scrutinizes the role of newspapers in American life today and what they mean to the individual reader. Such vital issues as the trend towards consolidation and the effect of radio, television and news magazines on newspapers are discussed by five prominent figures in journalism. Professor Penn Kimball of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is moderator of the program, with these panel members: Louis Lyons, former curator for Nieman Fellows at Harvard University; AH Raskin, member of the editorial board of the New York Times; Ben Bagdikian of the Saturday Evening Post; and Frank Conniff of the Hearst newspapers. The panel studies the worsening economic situation of newspapers, including rising costs and growing labor troubles. It evaluates the effect of this economic situation on the ability of newspapers to provide adequate news and interpretation. It examines the status of personal journalism and the prevalence of news provided by news agencies and services. It looks at the inroads radio, television, and news magazines have made as sources of hard news. And it explores the relationship of the President and the press. The discussion is held in the newsroom of the New York Journal-American Crisis of the American Newspaper is a 1965 National Educational Television presentation. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche) 1 hour program, produced in 1965 by NET, originally shot on videotape.
