The recent shutdown of our federal government and the continuing battle about our debt ceiling underlines the importance of having a well-informed and know-ledgeable electorate. The world is changing fast and with it our ability to obtain relatively accurate balanced news in a timely fashion.

For over two centuries since the founding of this nation, our local and national conversations have been framed by newspapers supported by an increasingly literate electorate. The fourth estate or press, which since the French Revolution has helped balance the power of the other three estates (at first defined as the clergy, the nobility and the peasantry but in today’s world perhaps better defined as the church, the corporation and the rest of us) newspapers have helped speed the rate of industrialization and brought democracy to much of the literate world.

Today, with rapid growth of electronic media, ranging from television to the Internet, newspapers or other forms of print, outlets are fighting for their survival. The result is both positive and negative. It means that more forests are left standing (every Sunday edition of The New York Times used to consume over 7,000 acres of pulp timber), but newspaper’s circulation and advertising revenue is collapsing.

A recent road trip around the Pacific Northwest showcased the rapid decline in the availability and quality of news sources available to many rural communities. It is now almost impossible to find regional newspapers available for sale in stores and newsstands in many rural towns in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The Oregonian is only sold on newsstands on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and apparently even then mainly in the Portland metro area. More surprising was the decline in the quality of articles discussing local, regional and national issues available in The Seattle Times and The Idaho Statesman.

After reading these three regional papers and a number of other local papers, we returned home, impressed with the quality and quantity of news found in The (Bend) Bulletin. We are very lucky to have a local newspaper whose staff works hard to bring us quality journalism in an effort to help us remain an educated electorate.

Unfortunately, this no longer is true in many of our rural (and some of our urban) communities where our fellow citizens are getting their news from fewer sources, increasingly controlled by large corporations (which dominate broadcast media) or narrow interest groups focusing on their own self-serving agendas (which dominate the Internet). This results in an electorate who increasingly choose radical representatives representing specialized interests.

As proved by the recent shutdown of our federal government, this makes it almost impossible for our representatives in Congress to find middle ground and compromise. Thus, this decline in our fourth estate seems to be yet another reason for a more fractured, self-centered electorate, leaving our government more easily swayed by extremists present in the first two estates.

As we strengthen our vibrant local communities by building new schools, expanding our infrastructure and creating a healthy business environment, we are lucky to have a newspaper that helps us maintain an informed citizenry. Being located in the center of the state and surrounded by rural communities under-served by a moribund regional press, the staff at the The Bulletin should be proud of their leadership role in helping maintain quality journalism to the Pacific Northwest.

Only by keeping us informed and connected can we take the next step by encouraging the leaders we elect to work together for the good of our country.