In the era of 24-hour news and megamergers of media companies, it is easy to overlook the basic questions of our profession: What is journalism for? What purpose does it serve in our society? What is shaping its future?
Committee of Concerned Journalists
Consortium dedicated to exploring journalism”s role and clarifying its guiding priciples.
Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel set out to answer those pivotal questions in their latest book, The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect. Both came to the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism last Thursday to discuss their findings with about 50 graduating students and a cadre of deans and faculty members.
“To secure journalism’s future,” said Kovach, “we must be clear about what sets our profession apart from other endeavors.”
Defining those principles took four years of work. It started with the creation of a Committee of Concerned Journalists, followed by a series of 21 forums and extensive national surveys about the state of the press, from traditional newspapers to online coverage.
From this array of statements and opinions, our media critics concluded, “the central purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with accurate and reliable information they need to function in a free society.”
Kovach noted that when journalists fail to engage the public in the nitty-gritty of community affairs, they diminish their credibility and in the end, their usefulness. To which Rosenstiel added: “Tell the reader what you know but also what you don’t know. When you make stories more transparent, you bring the reader into the process and invite his fair judgment.”
While urging his audience to use imagination to make important stories interesting, Kovach expressed hope” that a new generation of journalists, in a garage somewhere, will zero in on alternative ideas of using technology to create news reporting that will challenge how we look at our neighborhoods.”
“If I were 26 today,” said the silver-haired Kovach, “that’s where I’d like to be. Great innovations won’t happen within the bureaucracy of journalism.”
A free press, based on verified information, however, cannot exist if civic institutions are not available to support it, he said.
“My personal opinion from years of studying the media is that this notion of quality journalism is as near to human instinct as we have come in our environment and our culture. By now, it may even be inscribed in our genetic code. So I am encouraged, ” Kovach said. “The western world has made a major contribution: The idea that people can govern themselves. The journalist’s role is to inform the public about the issues so people can make the right decisions for their lives. Without this process, democracy will not survive.”
Financial pressures from advertisers and management are subverting the way reporters cover events, Rosenstiel said. Demographics dictate what issues will get an airing, especially in the TV industry. For example women 18 to 49 are supposed to care about breast implants, so that’s the kind of stories that get produced.
“It’s a stereotype and an insult,” Rosenstiel said. “We are concerned that more stories these days are driven by the cost side rather than by demand from the readers or viewers. We’re losing the ‘public square’ aspect of news.”
Another victim of the corporate drive for profits has been the apprentice system. In answer to a student’s question, Rosenstiel noted that “opportunities to learn on the job have been smoothed out.” While small papers or local stations were once a nurturing environment for a journalist starting out on a career, learning on the job is no longer an option, especially now that the pressure of the market is forcing cuts and layoffs.
— Claudia Carlin is a part-time student at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.
