People ask me if I am concerned about the future of the news business. The answer is “yes.” I am having trouble figuring out where news coverage ends and entertainment begins these days. I worry when Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central’s “Daily Show,” is considered a legitimate journalist – as he is with many young people who have never heard of Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow.

The over-the-top coverage by the national media of the death of pop icon Michael Jackson is irrefutable evidence of the blurring of the lines between the news business and show business. My sense is their coverage was dictated not be its news value, but as an opportunity to get ratings points in order to increase advertising revenues. The news be damned.

And then there is the Balkanization of opinion that has become the norm with talk radio and cable news. Neither makes any bones about presenting only one side of an argument. They draw those who agree with them and shout down those that don’t. So, how can we make an informed opinion on major issues facing this country if we don’t get both sides of a story? My feeling is that we can’t.

The one bright spot I see is the local newspaper. When citizens feel disenfranchised by an unresponsive or high-handed local government, they know they have a place to go: The local paper. As one publisher in another city told me, “We serve the dual role of community cheerleader and watchdog. One day you are sitting with a business leader at Rotary and the next day you have a reporter camped out on his doorstep. It isn’t easy and can be downright uncomfortable.” No, it’s not easy, but it is the way the journalism profession should be practiced.

When I read about a local school board opening up meetings to the taxpayers that should never have been held behind closed doors to begin with, and all because the local newspaper stayed on them like white on rice, it gives me some hope that legitimate journalism is alive and well. At least at the local level.