"Frontline's" probing report on the current state of journalism, reported by Lowell Bergman, unveils the changing role of the press in society. It is unique to see Bergman, a former “60 Minutes” producer, reporting on his former program. “60 Minutes” is referred to as a brand or a commodity rather than a news program on numerous occasions in the program. Over the years, “60 Minutes” developed a solid reputation for quality journalism, but the connotations associated with labeling the program a commodity are worrying. The name “60 Minutes” should not be used to sell products. Once a “60 Minutes” t-shirt is sold in stores, the program loses integrity.
One of the segments that stands out pertains to the increase in citizen journalism. Markos Moulitsas’ comments about the fluid structure of blogs is terribly disconcerting. Moulitsis believes bloggers can write whatever they want as long as it is factual. He finds it perfectly acceptable for bloggers to be poets one day and journalists the next. This wouldn’t be a problem if readers could easily discern between an opinion column and an actual piece of investigative reporting.
As a young college student who writes opinion columns and news stories for a campus newspaper, I have to be extremely cautious about the content in my columns. I don’t want readers to accuse me of harboring a potential bias or dismiss my reporting based on something I said two semesters ago about President Bush. Helen Thomas, a recent speaker at the Edward R. Murrow Symposium, faced difficulties in the White House press room after she became a syndicated columnist for Hearst Newspapers. If Helen Thomas’ credibility as a journalist can be compromised based on her overlapping responsibilities as a reporter and a columnist, then “anonymous blogger 101” has no credibility.
The segment focusing on the finances of the Los Angeles Times exposed ills in the newspaper industry and American capitalism. I wished Bergman had interviewed David Simon, a former journalist for The Baltimore Sun and the creator of the HBO television program “The Wire,” because Simon is an outspoken advocate on this issue. Much like healthcare, Simon contends that newspapers should not face the same kind of profit models as other businesses. Making a profit should be enough for a newspaper. It was these expectations of exponential growth that led to the creation of derivatives and impossible leverage schemes in the financial markets that caused the current economic debacle. Newspapers simply can not achieve similar growth without resorting to tabloid-esque sensationalism.
For further details, I published an article in The Daily Evergreen about the future of newspapers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment