Bob Schieffer, chief Washington correspondent for CBS News, told attendees of the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas it’s up to local broadcasters to step into the role of local government watchdog with more newspapers folding, as reported by TVNewsCheck.
Schieffer was accepting the Distinguished Service Award from the NAB when he told the room, unless there is someone in the community, “that keeps an eye on local government, we are going to see corruption in this country in a way never seen before.”
“You cannot have a democracy unless people have that independently gathered version of events compared to what government is telling them,” Schieffer said. “More and more it’s going to be the broadcaster that is depended on for that accurate information.”
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Schieffer who was being honored for his 56 year career in journalism added,
“There is no question we are in midst of a communications revolution. No one knows where this thing is going,” he said. “The journalism world has been turned upside.”
But “we worry about the wrong things” in giving more attention to how news, versus what kind of news, is being delivered to consumers, Schieffer said.