Words of Wisdom from the Man of Steel

For more than 70 years, Superman has fought off enemies and saved the world from disaster but finally the Man of Steel has been forced to submit to a greater enemy; the state of modern journalism (who would have thought?).

In DC’s newest Superman comic, his alter ego, Clark Kent has quit his job at The Daily Planet in protest of the state of modern journalism.

"Why am I the one sounding like a grizzled ink-stained wretch who believes news should be about – I don't know – news?" he asks.

His question prompts White (The Daily Planet publisher) to respond with a devastating critique of newspaper journalism: "Times are changing and print is a dying medium. I don't like it but the only hope we have of delivering any news at all is to give the people what they want to read and God help me if a front-page story about some reality star gets them to pick up a paper and maybe stumble on some real news."

 

That quote was taken from an article on The Telegraph website. Good on DC Comics for addressing present-day issues like the balance of journalism and entertainment, the role of new media and citizen journalists. However, while Superman is no stranger to being news material for the fictional newspaper, The Daily Planet, articles about Clark Kent’s latest career move from newspapers to the blogosphere have cropped up in the Sydney Morning Herald, Los Angeles Times, The News International and San Francisco Times, just to name a few.

Isn’t this an example of the very thing that Superman was protesting? The career move of a fictional (albeit, well loved) superhero is actually making news! But perhaps it really does take a superhero to bring the state modern journalism into the public eye.

Check out the article in The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9628552/Superman-quits-The-Daily-Planet-over-the-state-of-journalism.html