Public needs real news not just gossip

Many people believe that news organizations should not accept government funding. But according to a recent debate held at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism such funding often produces better journalism.

Students voting in favor of government funding outnumbered those opposed, 28 to 17. Columbia University President Lee Bollinger voted in favor.

Bollinger, a noted legal scholar of the First Amendment and freedom of speech, argued that US universities, which receive more or less government money, are still able to maintain academic freedom. He worried that the number of foreign correspondents in countries such as China is insufficient to keep the US public properly informed about such a critical part of the world.