Silenced Voices   

The problem really hit me when I read the pull quote in "The MBA Option" sidebar of Robert Hodierne's "Is There Life After Newspapers?" (February/March). The quote states: "MBA programs target journalists because they add a diverse professional element to the classroom and they have skills corporate employers value: writing, communication and a keen understanding of deadlines."

Not only are thousands of journalist voices being silenced each year, many of those voices are being pressed into the service of corporations — a sector of our society that certainly needs to be monitored by the Fourth Estate. No doubt one reason for our nation's current economic mess is a press that was inadequately staffed to cover the complex factors that led up to it. As newspapers recede as a journalistic force, we can only hope that the Internet will find a journalistic model to replace it — blogs and Twitter certainly aren't going to take the place of salaried writers and editors devoting their workdays to digging into important issues.

David Schiff

Warwick, New York