Journalism panel encourages citizen awareness
Written by Sarah Laffin, Sep 19, 2011, 0 Comments
Journalism has the power to hold people accountable for their actions, said Erin Arvedlund, a journalist and author, and Paul Tash, the chairman and CEO of Times Publishing Company.
Arvedlund, who wrote the book “Too Good to be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff” spoke about the subject of her book. Arvedlund detailed how Madoff managed to run a $65 billion Ponzi scheme for four decades without getting caught.
Despite Madoff’s success, his accounting firm consisted of two men working in a strip mall outside of town. It was also never questioned why his firm did not offer online statements.
Madoff bilked about $21 billion from his investors before surrendering himself in Dec. 2008. It was then discovered that the hedge fund never made a single trade.
Arvedlund stressed the importance of due diligence in journalism to make sure that people are held accountable for their actions.
Paul Tash, whose company publishes The St. Petersburg Times, added to the discussion. Robert Rizzo, for example, was the city manager of Bell, Calif. Rizzo paid himself $787,000 a year while the average family in the city made about $30,000 annually.
Tash also explained the current newspaper situation. Staff at The St. Petersburg Times, including Tash, recently took a 5 percent pay cut. That’s the second 5 percent pay cut in the last two years. Normally, 75 percent of a newspaper’s total revenue comes from advertising. Since the financial crisis, advertising for newspapers has declined.
However, in the last several years, there has been a remarkable growth in the audience of newspaper websites.
The issue is that the advertising dollars are not nearly as great on the Internet as they are in print.
“We are replacing print dollars with digital dimes,” Tash said. This drop in advertising costs has led to a decline in newspaper staff.
“They are paid pains-in-the-neck,” Tash said. “And we are glad that they are, because it helps keep the bad guys honest.” Tash encouraged citizen awareness and involvement.
“Could it happen again?” Tash asked of scandals such as Madoff’s. “It will absolutely happen again. But more of them are likely to happen again unless we find a way to hold people accountable.”
Photo by Daniel Mutter
