The current debate on the health of journalism is more than welcome. Earlier I had written about media baron Rupert Murdoch’s take on the subject. And now comes a powerful defence of traditional journalism from Lionel Barber of London’s Financial Times.
Barber begins on a nostalgic note about his stint with The Washington Post, then makes a fascinating comparison between the British and the American press, and finally writes about the arrival of Citizen Journalists and the impact on the mainstream newspapers.
“In the summer of 1985, when I arrived in the capital of the United States, The Washington Post was one of the finest newspapers in the country… I had joined the paper as the sixth Laurence Stern fellow… Entering the Post newsroom was like walking on to the set of All the President’s Men.
“Reporters were given days, often weeks, to research stories. The editing process was exhausting: copy passed through at least four pairs of hands. The other eye-opener was the access that Post journalists enjoyed. A fat Federal government directory provided telephone numbers for officials, high and low. More often than not, they answered the phone. This was heady stuff for someone used to having Whitehall doors slam shut. At the end of my fellowship, I wrote a commentary headlined ‘America, you have wonderful bureaucrats . . .’
“The reflex reaction of the new journalism, however, has too often been a defensive crouch. Or how else to explain the uncritical acceptance of the Bush administration’s case for invading Iraq, based on bogus claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction?
“Most damaging, the mainstream press lost touch with its audience at the very moment when technology, via the internet, was dramatically lowering the barriers to entry. Whether this was an unhappy coincidence or complacency is unclear. What is undeniable is that public trust in newspapers started to slip…
“It would be premature to suggest US newspapers are engaged in a last roll of the dice…There are plenty of opportunities for growth, starting with a renewed focus on local news; a more sophisticated blend of online and print content; and a more adventurous approach to what readers and viewers want, particularly younger ones.
“Overall, though, it seems undeniable that 2008 – and the coverage of the presidential election – will be seen as a tipping point in American journalism. The imperial status of the mainstream media – the television networks, big metropolitan dailies and lofty commentators – has been shaken. The lay-offs of hundreds of US newspaper journalists are a symptom of a wider malaise.
“We are witnessing a shift in the balance of power towards new media, with wholesale repercussions for the practice of journalism… More here…
I think a debate on this generally neglected subject is very useful. Media does play a crucial role in helping democracy retain its vibrancy and health. Media is a powerful tool to educate/prepare the public to wage the real war against terrorism at the grassroots level.
I believe that the demise of real print journalism began in the newsrooms where the authority of the NEWS EDITOR, and sub editors, was taken away. The unsupervised reporters began to call the shots and we can see the results.
The reason for the demise of NEWS EDITOR are many. But it helped the newspaper owners/management to smuggle in what is described as advertorials. The free mixing of opinions/manipulations in hard news led to the fall of credibility of the newspapers.
NEWS EDITOR used to be the “Sergeant Major” directly in touch with the ground realities and leading the charge. He had to manage the juniors under him and resist the machinations of the Editor and the newspaper owners/management.
Neutralizing of the NEWS EDITOR has led to major aberrations in the newspaper industry.
Now readers find it difficult to differentiate between opinions, news or advertisements. Earlier the newspapers ensured that a particular section of the newspaper would carry objective news, the other section would carry opinions and the place for advertisements was fixed too.
However, I do not share the doom and gloom prophecy for newspapers. They have survived for over 200 years…and would do so even now, although in a quite a different incarnation.
Jim Lehrer, the executive editor and anchor for the PBS News Hour program (who has moderated eleven presidential and vice presidential debates in the last six elections, including one between Barack Obama and John McCain on Sept. 26) has a similar point of view.
” ‘Journalism is still about the (news) story,’ the award-winning journalist and author of 19 novels said last week as he honored by the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communications as the first recipient of the Gaylord Prize, established by the Oklahoma City newspaper family to honor a nationally recognized role model for future journalists. ‘Our democratic society will only work if we have an informed electorate’.”
Lehrer said “the Internet pundits, faux news anchors and talk show hosts wouldn’t have anything to talk about if it weren’t for those worker bee reporters who gather the news.
” ‘In the beginning, there must always be the news,’ he told some 400 guests, including OU President and former Oklahoma governor and U.S. Senator David Boren, Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, and at least 100 OU journalism students. ‘It has to start with one of us real news people, one of us boring reporters, one of us journalists who was there, who read the original document, who did the original interview, who got the original leak, who did whatever it took to make it news in the first place.
“Lehrer, a Kansas native who got his start in journalism at newspapers and TV stations in Dallas, said stick to the basics and avoid ‘going with stories before they’re ready, spicing them up a bit with over-the-line commentary … and worst of all, make entertaining people one of our purposes’.
“He added, ‘You want to be entertained? Go to the circus, don’t watch the News Hour’.
“Lehrer said the fire hose spew of information coming from all the new forms of media has made the traditional journalism role of gatekeeper more important than ever, and predicted that such a role not only is not going away but is ‘coming back big time’.” More here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.