29th
Newspapers, Civic Duty, and Generation Gap
Dave Winer posted a comment about an article by Dan Kennedy, who in turn comments on the results of a Pew Research Center study about the connection between newspapers and civic life. Kennedy contends that to survive, newspapers must get people more involved in civic life and local affairs. My response is that I see this as being a very generational thing. Stereotypically, the baby boomer generation was very idealistic. Their nemesis was gen-X, the following generation who reacted against this “misguided idealism” with an almost cynically pragmatic approach to the world. Even in his response, Kennedy fulfills his generational stereotype by showing his concern for the ideals and dreams of civic participation. The insular attitudes, technophobia, and dreamy idealism of the baby boomers is not what is going to allow the US to survive this next century …
