Tell the men of Atalissa why you cancelled your newspaper

I am not sure how to respond when a person tells me he has stopped his subscription to the newspaper or she doesn’t follow the news. I get the impression I am supposed to respond with some sort of encouragement or praise. “Good for you – too few people today choose ignorance” seems a bit harsh for casual conversation and, based on how often I hear such claims, sadly untrue.

I can’t really blame a person for wanting to hide from the news now and again. The world can be a terrible place and there are many days it appears the human experiment is falling tragically short of what the sales brochures promised. However, the decision to barricade oneself from knowledge about current affairs isn’t high-minded; it’s shallow and selfish.

I understand why one would want to avoid the insipid provocateurs masquerading as journalists on TV squawk boxes. Beyond being hard to watch, partisan storytellers like Fox News and MSNBC, and sensation chasers like CNN do little to further anything but the interests of a few. Fair and honest journalism in the tradition of Edward R. Murrow is not found often and, perhaps, isn’t fostered in these ‘newsrooms.’ Adding to the noise, are online information resources. Most of these are more focused on producing clickable content to draw visitors to a site than providing informative and thought-provoking pieces once known as news.

This brings me to newspapers, the dinosaurs of news. With circulations dwindling, newspaper staffs are but a fraction of what they once were. Newspapers are struggling to adapt to changing times. The content and depth of what they publish has suffered as a consequence. Unless something changes, newspapers are destined to remain trapped in the vicious cyclone of some metaphorical toilet bowl until they are flushed from sight.

Increased competition in the marketplace leads to lost revenue for newspapers, which results in diminished content, which causes people to drop subscriptions, which makes it harder for newspapers to compete, and the cycle continues in a downward spiral.

This is not an appeal to cling to your grandfather’s news source out of sentimental reasons. Technology can and has changed things for the better, but it is up to us to use the technology for good. Newspapers should adapt and so should their readers.

The Internet, cable TV and the other creations of the electronic age have made it incredibly easy to access once unimaginable information rich resources. But, this unprecedented access has a price. As long as newspapers, magazines, television news, talk radio and Internet entities remain committed participants in a banal race to create the most flashy/clickable/shareable/marketable content, investigative journalism will continue to decline and this is bad for democracy.

Investigative journalism exposes the insidious acts of those gnawing at the corners of civilized society. This activity may be hidden from view or, worse, perpetrated in plain sight yet going undetected because most of us are too busy pressing through our daily lives.

The next time someone tells me he doesn't follow the news, I am going to tell him about the 32 mentally challenged men mistreated for decades at Henry’s Turkey Service.

Henry’s Turkey Service operated in plain view in Atalissa, Iowa for many years. The City of Atalissa leased the company a building where mentally challenged workers lived in horrid conditions. These men were abused by an employer who retained the men’s government disability checks, paid the men a shockingly low wage and mistreated them while government inspectors, health workers and social service personnel went about their business as usual. It wasn’t until Clark Kauffman, a reporter for the Des Moines Register, investigated and wrote about these men of Atalissa that anyone had the gumption to take action.

On Wednesday, an outraged jury awarded 32 men mistreated at Henry’s Turkey Service $240 million. Without investigative journalism, the plight of these mentally challenged individuals would have gone unreported. These men might still be suffering today.

If you are not happy with your newspaper – you think it lacks substance and provides little value to you and your community – drop the subscription. But, replace it with a news source that is doing the valuable work of journalism and pay attention to its content. A healthy democracy depends on an informed citizenry. By choosing to not be informed, a person shirks his responsibility as a citizen.

The men of Atalissa are living examples of the need for our continued investment in in-depth journalism.

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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com 
This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register online essay and in the print edition one day later.