Chicago Tribune Reporters Don't Want Readers' Pre-Approval

theodp writes "Irked by the Marketing department's solicitation of subscribers' opinions on stories before they were published, 55 reporters and editors at the Chicago Tribune signed an e-mail demanding the practice be stopped. 'It is a fundamental principle of journalism that we do not give people outside the newspaper the option of deciding whether or not we should publish a story, whether they be advertisers, politicians or just regular readers,' the e-mail read."

Comments

Re:Can't figure out who else might do this ..

[jcr]

For as long as I can remember, the purpose of newspapers has been "Make as much money as you can, by any means you can get away with".

There was a period before that, when the purpose of any newspaper was to advocate a political agenda. Every party or movement had its own newspaper, and they were quite up front about where they were coming from.

This idea of the "impartial" journalist was mostly a 20th-century affectation.

-jcr