Journalism is dead. Discuss. :-)

[Steve Garfield]

Journalism is dead. Discuss. :-)

[Julie Donnelly]

I just want to clarify my comment at the meeting. I don't believe the journalism product is dead. Steve just did a great piece of journalism with his absentee ballot postage story. I believe the journalism profession is dead. There will be more stuff out there, but way fewer people who make their living exclusively as news journalists. The number of layoffs is chilling. Some journalists will move to web jobs. But many of the so-called news sites don't actually do original news. They re-package, they commentate, they metacogitate.

-Chicken Little

[Jeff Cutler]

Julie is right in that the product isn't dead, but the profession as a business is failing. I've ranted continuously - and probably not clearly enough - that trained journalists are more adept at producing a quality news product than are 'citizen journalists'. With news corporation owners focusing only on numbers and not on the product, there certainly is a change in the works. The smart writers and reporters WILL morph into the news-delivery pros of the Web and everyone will see the quality of writing (can ANYONE remember that it's and its are different and that America should always be capitalized and that loose doesn't mean lose?) go up across the board.

Further, the CJ's will either step up their game to a level where they truly compete with the trained journalists or they'll be flung aside as the market demands a polished, easy-to-digest, complete product on every level.

I don't disparage the smart people with whom I've spoken who have no formal journalism training or degree, because smart people find a way to learn on the job. It's not that difficult to understand the tenets of a properly balanced story and many smart people can do that.

The real problem occurs when 'news' is reported that really isn't news. Or when reporting is driven by bias. Or when relationships or agendas drive the message of an article. And far too often that's where the breakdown occurs. Untrained 'journalists' haven't been provided with the ethics training (seriously) and the years of instruction on delivering facts instead of opinion.

It's akin to hiring someone who owns DreamWeaver to design your Website. It might get the job done, but the end product is far less aesthetically precise than a site created by a professional designer.

Ultimately, I want the journalism world to incorporate the best work of the smarties and the best work from the trained legions of reporters and deliver products that people consume with abandon. Products that people can trust. Products that inform, educate and entertain.

Because if the end result isn't real journalism - even Wikipedia has a good definition of this word, see below - then all we're getting is marketing, PR and biased messages and opinions. And that's not news.

Jeff
http://www.jeffcutler.com


The elements of journalism

According to The Elements of Journalism, a book by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosensteil, there are nine elements of journalism [1]. In order for a journalist to fulfill their duty of providing the people with the information they need to be free and self-governing. They must follow these guidelines:

1. Journalism's first obligation is to the truth.
2. Its first loyalty is to the citizens.
3. Its essence is discipline of verification.
4. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.
5. It must serve as an independent monitor of power.
6. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.
7. It must strive to make the significant interesting, and relevant.
8. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.
9. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.

On the April 2007 edition of the book [2], they have added one additional element, the rights and responsibilities of citizens to make it a total of ten elements of journalism.

[Maggi Smith-Dalton]

Here's another reason why professional journalism must not "die."

From my blog, Nightingale Songs:

"Why should we care about the professional media? Historians cannot do their work if journalists do not do theirs professionally and ethically.
Historians cannot do their work if journalists do not do theirs professionally and ethically...."

Also posted on Mass Historical Studies sites, etc.