THE DEBATE over the possible cutting of current affairs programme Campbell Live is a topic of consternation among journalists but whether this filters down to the general readership is debatable.
It is, after all, the "readership", or more accurately viewers, that is blamed for the show's possible demise. Falling ratings are never happy news for managers.
And if people are simply not watching a show, that would seem to me to be a message - the show has had its time.
What concerns journalists is the potential to lose what is one of the few platforms in this country for aggressive investigative journalism. In terms of the role of the media as a public watchdog, and holding those in power to account, we should be, as a society, better off with resourceful broadcast journalism backing us up. But society is not our audience in a lecture hall, listening to the wise journalism academic. Society will go with what appeals.
So does broadcast journalism still appeal? People lament the younger generation not buying newspapers, but it's my experience with my stepson that the generation below me are avid followers of hard news.
