A newspaper is a social institution and performs a socializing
function. As a social institution in the Moscow community, the
newspaper provides a kind of mortar that binds other community
institutions together and helps relate them to each other and to
the community as a whole. This function will vary, depending on
the peculiarities of the community. It also will vary over time
as the newspaper's influence grows or declines.
A newspaper provides a communication center for the community.
The newspaper still serves as sort of a clearing house for the
dissemination of information throughout the community and the
newspaper office frequently becomes a focal point for a variety
of interactions among divergent groups. This is more likely when
the newspaper office is centrally located.
A newspaper is really a public institution. Although privately
owned and operated, the newspaper's readers see it has having
heavy public responsibilities. They expect it to fulfill certain
public obligations. Our forefathers gave it special protection
under the First Amendment to the Constitution.
A newspaper performs an agenda-setting function for the
community. The newspaper dominates the community in terms of
determining, through its news and editorial pages, what the
community will think about. This is especially true of local
events and issues. Often the newspaper will exercise initiative
in uncovering and developing news that might not normally come to
the reader's attention.
A newspaper can be the most functional educational institution in
a community. No other community institution has the potential
for creating awareness in politics, business, religion, culture,
and the arts as has the newspaper. This is especially true of
the latter two, culture and the arts. Radio and television can
bring the great artists of music and drama into the home, thus
nurturing man's appreciation of the arts, but the newspaper
remains the chief promoter of community concert activities, local
artists, the civic theatre, and appreciation of local history.
A newspaper performs a "humanizing" function in a community. In
small communities, even today, most people have direct contact
with each other and get to know each other through personal
interaction. As the community grows, this becomes less possible
as the chances for personal interaction decreases. Through human
interest features and good photography the newspaper helps the
reader to not only know those who are in positions of
responsibility in the community, but also those who are more
obscure -- even to some extent forgotten. Paradoxically,
obituaries play an important part in this "humanizing" process. A
newspaper is a rich depository for local history. For many
years, most newspapers viewed themselves as newspapers of record.
They meticulously recorded all the events and happenings of a
community, even those that might be considered trivial. There is
still no better way to relive a community's past than to go back
through the files of its newspapers. However, this may not be so
true of the contemporary period or the future. The trend now is
for the newspaper to concentrate more on the "important and more
interesting news." Historians may not find them the rich source
they once were.
A newspaper serves as a community forum. The forum function can
be performed in three ways. One is by aggressively seeking out
differing points of view on different issues in the community and
reporting them in the news columns. A second way is to provoke
readers to thought and action through strongly-stated editorial
opinions. A third way is to open up the editorial page columns
to readers and let them present their own opinions for public
scrutiny.
A newspaper serves commercial enterprise and also consumers.
Newspapers are businesses. In order to survive, they must make a
profit and most of this comes from the sale of advertising.
Advertising not only provides an opportunity for commercial
enterprises in the community to sell goods and services, but it
provides an important information service to the consumer.
The City of Moscow has had a daily newspaper publishing for
more than three quarters of a century. How well your newspaper
is serving your community is something that you as a reader can
determine for yourself. While the above list of functions may
not be complete, it can serve as a basis for your making your
personal judgment of your newspaper.