 "Photo: Anthony Salinas / The Pan American")
The integrity of journalism is at risk of deteriorating.
With the business advancing into a new era of different media, practitioners face the risk of morphing journalistic values. Further, young journalists have the opportunity to create new journalism values as they embark on the journey of digital journalism.
Bear with them, however, because they may hit a few bumps in the road.
Now, journalism has always been essential to the foundation of any democracy. That is the reason it is a private institution, a stance directly built into the Constitution. It is essential to provide the people with news of what their government is doing, without institutional oversight or interference as far as can be assured.
The Romans did it via stone tablets to explain happenings in the Senate chambers. The Colonists in pre-Revolutionary America used the quill to explain the Crown’s actions to the general public.
Some may find the transparency endemic to the watchdog process irritating. Certainly those who are in the public eye, and those who are perceived as having erred, don’t want to be portrayed negatively in the public sphere. The British took offense, viewing the writers of expository articles, like Thomas Paine, as radicals, which as it turned out, they were.
President Nixon wasn’t too favorable toward the Washington Post when Woodward and Bernstein presented their findings to the public in the mid-1970s. If he’d had dictatorial control, stories about Watergate would have never been printed. The public would never have known.
I note the issue of transparency because some at this university find journalists irritating. In fact, I’ve experienced a widespread lack of cooperation for simple things, like finding out an employee’s name.
The university needs a stronger spirit of transparency and cooperation. If improved, it will enable young journalists to have an opportunity for better quality stories. Staff, faculty and administration need to understand that we’re learning, and at that we are doing it during a time when our career paths are changing. Help us learn and grow.
On the issue of transition journalists have multiple avenues through which they can present their findings. And the quality of the information is sometimes debatable.
The first medium to alter the print version of journalism was the formation of broadcast journalism; first via radio in the 1920s, and second through television in the 1950s.
I’m very fond of my broadcast friends, however, modern day TV news broadcasts do not allow for a sufficient amount of the story to be told. You get the what - what is happening or has happened - but there isn’t a lot of how or why.
Presenting information to the public is crucial to full transparency, and this fare needs to be given in context, and with historical depth. Making a sound decision on world affairs requires understanding the holistic view. With the quick and dirty world of broadcast, this goal is not met frequently.
Converting to the digital world presents a different sort of challenge. It is a place of unlimited space. Stories can run pages long or a few paragraphs.
Too many journalists now rely on long-winded blogs to express their full view and feelings on any given situation. I think it is something that may infringe on individual value systems. Or at least alter them.
Blogs must never be confused for actual news stories. Too many people rely on them as actual news sources, which is scary to think about. It is too easy to receive irrelevant and false information from these word-vomit sources.
Be careful of what you read. And, help us along our way.
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