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Photos by Shelly Hanks, WSU Photo Services
PULLMAN — Frank Blethen, publisher and chief executive officer of The Seattle Times, called on WSU graduates to become involved in finding a solution to the crisis facing journalism today.
“Make no mistake if we do not rejuvenate our press by adequately funding independent news and journalism throughout the country, our grand 200-year-plus experiment in self-government and democracy will soon fail,” Blethen said during his fall commencement speech on the snowy Pullman campus Saturday.
Blethen traced the roots of the free and robust press to the Founding Fathers.
“They understood both the dream and the need to create tools and protection so the dream could become a reality. First, they created a marvelous Constitution as the foundation. Then they created the public policy needed to develop and nurture the dream,” Blethen said.
“Their baseline policy initiatives were elegant in their simplicity and focus public education and a vibrant, diverse free press.”
He said that model is now in peril, as a result of consolidation of media ownership, loss of advertising revenue and competition from Internet sources of information.
“The internet is the granddaddy of government subsidies. It was created for the public good. It has matured and it needs to be controlled like a public resource,” Blethen said. “It should be a tool in rejuvenating journalism rather than the primary culprit in wiping out robust journalism across America.”
Blethen commended WSU for the elevation of the Murrow School of Communications to college status, and said the WSU and the college have an opportunity to become a national model.
He called on students “to inform yourselves about how we fund journalism and about First Amendment issues. Become active in calling for reform.”
About 800 students received diplomas at the event, which was held at the Beasley Coliseum on the Pullman campus
WSU President Elson S. Floyd presided. Howard Grimes, vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School, assisted and highlighted outstanding graduates.
