Final Look: What is Journalism? Who is a Journalist?

            At the beginning of the semester, I thought I knew quite well what journalism was and who a journalist is.  But as I read The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenstiel and The Mind of a Journalist: How Reporters View Themselves, Their World, And Their Craft by Jim Willis, I reevaluated my views of journalism and journalists.  At first, I defined journalism to be the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues, and trends to a broad audience to inform the citizenry.  It represents the presentation of information to citizens so that they can become free and self-governing individuals.  I thought that summed up what journalism is but that definition is superficial.  In fact, journalism involves even more than that.

            Journalism doesn’t have a clear definition.  People over centuries have battled trying to pin down what journalism is but all they never get any farther than where they started.  Although journalism doesn’t have an exact definition, it has elements that are considered crucial in order to function as journalism.  Aside from telling the truth and getting your facts right, journalists and citizens need to recognize these elements that are imperative in journalism.

            Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth and its essence is a discipline of verification.  Many will argue just as much the definition of truth as they wrestle with the definition of journalism.  But many will agree on this part that the truth is more than just getting facts.  It’s taking into consideration timing and proximity when you gather the information.  It’s recognizing both sides of the story.  It’s always heard that one needs to give equal treatment to both sides but sometimes that’s not the case because that could be skewing the discovered truth.  Also, rather what pinning down what is truth, the methods on discovering “truth” are more important.  Journalists need to verify what they have gathered by never adding anything that was not there, never deceive audiences, being as transparent as possible about methods and motives, relying on one’s original reporting, and exercise humility.

            Journalism must be comprehensive, proportional, engaging, relevant, and act as a public forum for criticism and debate.  Journalism needs to cover what we need and what we want.  Every story whether it’s relevant or not to our views, we must make it engaging so we can satisfy both needs and wants for our audiences.  It must be comprehensive and proportional because journalism aims to reach as many audiences as possible because we are all affected by each other in some way, big or large.  When one excludes a community, there is a lack of information and communication.  Therefore, people become mislead and misrepresented.  When journalism acts a public forum for criticism and debate, new ideas are weighed against each other, different sides to a story are revealed, and people come closer to knowledge as they listen to others debate sources of truth.  All of these elements make journalism reach out to many people and can unite and bring people closer to understanding what is happening in the world.

            Now that journalism has been revealed on what it consists of, the next big question is who is a journalist?  Before, I considered journalists to be those who practice the profession and maintains a job in a news network.  At first, I considered real journalists to be the ones who attended journalism school, graduated with a degree, and practiced at a news organization because they’ve been trained to be transparent and know how to optimally obtain information from difficult sources.  As I have watched news reports, some of the footage and writing have come from untrained individuals who happened to be at the right moment with a camera and report it on the internet.  Even some of the most well known anchors and reporters received no degree or training in news gathering.  That changed my idea of a journalist completely.  To find out that some of individuals in the business have had no or little training and that much of our news we get from witnesses from events that report their experiences on the internet.  Having a degree in journalism makes one official and credible.  However, just as there are good journalists with degrees and average Joe citizens who aren’t talented in news gathering, there are also a handful of terrible, boring journalists who have graduated from school and talented citizens covering major events with their smart phones and digital cameras.  So it’s not the degree or title you have, it’s your methods of gathering that makes one a journalist. 

            A couple weeks ago I attended a lecture from a journalist for the Salt Lake Tribune who worked as a military analyst for our government.  He agreed that many of us will fall out of the profession but we can still do journalism.  Anyone can do journalism, regardless of a degree, if they use the right methods and have the right motives.  Journalists must maintain an independence from those they cover and they must have an obligation to exercise their personal conscience.  Journalists must maintain independence from those they cover means that one does not let their opinions or biases get the better of them.  Journalists are not propagandists or activists where the message is constantly pushed.  True, journalists have opinions and biases but it can’t get in the way of reporting events and seeking the truth from others.  They must exercise their personal conscience recalling upon a code of ethics instilled by the organization they work for.  Each news organization is different when it comes to ethical codes but each journalist can adapt these to be in their personal conduct:  seek the truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable. 

            Throughout the semester and perhaps in the future, the definition of journalism and journalist will continue to be difficult to clarify.  However, journalism has elements that are necessary in order to be a useful tool for citizens and future generations.  Anyone can be a journalist, but it is the methods they use and the motives they posses that makes me them stand out as a watchdog for the world.  Those who wish to be in the journalism field must understand the requirements that make journalism successful.  They must also practice like a journalist to be useful to the audience they represent, or even the world.

Comprehensive and Proportional

Journalism should keep the news comprehensive and in proportion.

            “Journalism is our modern cartography.  It creates a map for citizens to navigate society.  That is its utility and its economic reason for being.  This concept of cartography helps clarify the question of what journalism has a responsibility to cover.  As with any map, journalism’s value depends on it completeness and proportionality” (Kovach & Rosenstiel 208). 

The Fallacy of Targeted Demographics

            “If we think of journalism as social cartography, the map should include news of all our communities, not just those with attractive demographics or strong appeal to advertisers.  To do otherwise is to create maps with whole areas missing” (Kovach & Rosenstiel 209).  News organizations tend to cater to their audiences through demographics.  The good side to using demographics is that you’re providing what matters most to your audience, therefore, ratings and viewership goes up.  The down side to using demographics is that it leaves communities out and it doesn’t include all of the news that is out there that is still important for citizens to know.  Therefore, targeted demographics make audiences misinformed.  When citizens are misinformed, they will tend to make poor decisions.  As journalists, we must find ways to serve a wide range of audiences and communities.  In 1998, the Project for Excellence in Journalism found through studies that stations who covered a wider range of topics were more likely to be building or holding on to their audience than those that did not.

The Pressure to Hype

            “We’ve reached the point where the entertainment divisions are doing the news and the news divisions are doing entertainment.” – ABC News correspondent Robert Krulwich.  This part mostly pertains to the broadcast and radio networks, but a main part of how a news organization stays in business is based on ratings.  Therefore, if it appeals to viewers whether it seems interesting or important, people are compelled to watch.  Some organizations feel this pressure to get more around the world to watch their station.  Some organizations will sensationalize their content though most will deny that they sensationalized any of their material.  A popular technique is that those who are released/kicked off a reality TV show will be the main story for a network the next day.  How many of us tuned into watching the contestant’s response on American Idol, The Apprentice, Survivor, The Biggest Loser, etc.?  Is this really considered news necessary for the public to function and make decisions for themselves?  Or are these stories that will generate ratings to keep businesses in business?

Marketing

            How new organizations are able to target their audiences is through marketing and research techniques.  While marketing has proved to be helpful in finding out what is currently concerning our citizens, it makes citizens seem as customers or numbers.  We see them as satisfying what they want, asking what products they use, etc.  Instead, journalists “need to stop using market research that treats our audience as customers, asking them which products they prefer.  We need to create a journalism market research that approaches people as citizens and tells us more about their lives” (Kovach & Rosenstiel 219).  Just ask the people what they’re doing and what’s important to them rather than what do they prefer.  Asking their preference does not present their full judgment.  It only gives their opinion on such as short range.  You are only giving them 2 options when, who knows, there could be many factors in their opinions. 

            Besides using effective marketing methods and including a wider range of communities, journalists must treat each story with great story telling techniques.  A good journalist can make any story, whether relevant or not, of great importance depending on how they handle the story.  In fact, storytelling is key in marketing, reaching more communities, and letting audiences know that your story is of worth to the world. 

            In conclusion with some remarks from Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel’s book, The Elements of Journalism:  “The answer is not to return to a day when journalists operate purely by instinct.  We hope we have spotlighted a group of new cartographers who are developing tools to chart the way people live their lives today and the needs for news these lives create.  They are providing one of the most important tools a news organization needs to design a more comprehensive and proportional news report that attracts rather than repels the audience.  Now it is up to journalists to try.”

Dr. Mason Lecture: “The Rise of Mass-Media Puffery and the ‘Death’ of Literature in Georgian Britain”

      Nicholas Mason, an associate professor for the Department of English, presented a lecture titled, "The Rise of Mass-Media Puffery and the 'Death' of Literature in Georgian Britain" on March 24, 2011 in the Harold B. Lee Library auditorium.  This lecture discussed on how literature and advertising have been closely related.  His purpose was to inform us that "advertisers need to be more aware of what is happening in literature, and on the flip-side literature scholars need to be more aware of what is happening in communications."
      Dr. Mason lectured about how many people consider early British literature to be of great substance and that advertising has in lack of better terms, corrupted literature.  Literature being considered elitist and sophisticated while advertising as "anti-intellectual."  He then discussed on how literature and advertising have the same roots and had the same purposes.
      He started off by talking about puffery.  He went onto explain that puffery is an exaggerated praise (especially in advertising); it is a disguise/mask for news stories, reviews, and opinion pieces.  Literature and advertising goes way back to Georgian Britain.  Georgian Britain took place 1740-1830.  At this time, Britain was the most economically advanced Western nation.
      During Georgian Britain, much great literature was surfacing because literacy rates were rising.  In order for authors to get people to read their works, they had to get their friends to spread the word on how great their book was.  The spread of word by ear soon turned into authors writing promotional pieces to "advertise" their works.  Here we see the earliest form of literature and advertising merging.
      Dr. Mason then said that the 21st century hasn't changed its methods since Georgian Britain.  When we order items, especially books, textbooks, electronics, etc. there are reviews and product information contained under it.  What are the reviews like?  Whether it be a good product or not, the reviews portray the product to be this glamorous item that you are silly not to possess it.  Those reviews are written by a teams of editorialists.  Whether the product be a good one or not, they only care about selling and bringing in the Benjamins.  You see, how much different is this than back during Georgian Britain?
      Some of my thoughts when listening to the lecture is that we hear all the time, "oh, this book is a classic.  This is truly great literature."  I wonder how many classics are actually considered great literature.  Have we been brainwashed into reading inspiring works just because our professors and parents say those works are amazing when really it's a terrible work that for many years it's been passed down as a great piece of literature when really it's not that great of a read?  What is really considered great literature and what is phony literature due to advertising purposes?  Whenever I would read reviews or ratings on books, movies, etc. I was surprised to find out how many disappointed me with good ratings.  True, it could be my opinion but I feel that those works have good editorialists and good advertising agencies.

Journalism and Faith

        David Waters, producer of the On Faith Web site, said, “Religion is the most important topic out there.  It matters to nearly everyone, even to atheists and agnostics.  It affects nearly everything – from how we raise and educate our kids, to how we make and spend our money, to how we run corporations, communities, and even countries” (Willis 87).

Part of what makes us who we are is our belief or lack of belief in ideas or the world around us.  If anyone could single out what makes others truly different from others, stirs controversy, and prompts them to do an action, it is their beliefs, or specifically, religion.  Whatever religion you may be, the practice of worship and integrating a belief system into one’s life has been around for thousands of years.  Religion is one of the biggest factors that causes controversy as little as between 2 people or nations.  

Sally Quinn and John Meacham, reporters for On Faith, said, “Religion is the most pervasive yet least understood topic in global life.  From the caves of the Afghan-Pakistan border to the cul-de-sacs of the American Sunbelt, faith shapes and suffuses the way billions of people – Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and nonbelievers – think and act, vote and fight, love and, tragically, hate.  It is the most ancient of forces . . . And so, in a time of extremism . . . how can people engage in a conversation about faith and its implications in a way that sheds light rather than generates heat?” 

What’s even more interesting is that as big as religion is in everyone’s lives, whether they claim it be or not, it is hardly covered in the news.  Many journalists admit that religion is not covered as much as some of the other beats.  It’s become taboo among journalists because many of them don’t want to upset or offend their audiences.  However, every story that is covered involves religion even if it’s not mentioned.  Why stories are chosen or covered is supported by religious beliefs.  In fact, so much in our world is touched by religion.  If it affects everyone, why isn’t it covered more than other beats?  I bet religion and events that are backed by religion would be better understood if religion was officially covered.  It would solve many stereotypes, miscommunications, and bring in a bigger diversity of ideas.  

Bill Keller said, “I also endorse . . . that we cover religion more extensively, but I think the key to that is not to add more reporters who will write about religion as a beat.  I think the key is to be more alert to the role religion plays in many stories we cover, stories of politics and policy, national and local, stories of social trends and family life, stories of how we live.  This is important to us not because we want to appease believers or pander to conservatives, but because good journalism entails understanding more than just the neighborhood you grew up in.” 

No matter what religion you believe, or don’t believe in, our views have been shaped by religious practices.  Even those who claim that they aren’t religious, their ideas about how the world works are not new.  Everything has an origin.  After realizing that religion is not covered as extensively as other news, I too agree that religion should be covered more.  However, there are a few things that we need to keep in mind if news organizations decide to cover religious news.

Some recommendations that journalists and news organizations who have reported on religion have found that these techniques tend to be successful:

• Remember that context is the key to the complete reporting of a story.
• Distinguish between the group and the action.
• Consider a religion section.
• Accentuate religion close to home.
• Be balanced in terms of coverage.
• Reflect a newspaper’s region and country.
• Develop a means of obtaining advice and expertise about religion.

The Poynter Institute for Media Studies said, “All news is religious news.  That’s not a statement of faith or an assertion about the importance of religion to society.  Rather, it’s a lot like saying all news is political because there’s nothing that’s not touched by some politician’s interests or some piece of legislation.  Religion is the same way, with tendrils of connection to everything . . . The difference between political news and religion news is that most papers have a political or city hall reporter, but many don’t have someone dedicated to religion.  It’s not hard to imagine how that happened; it is a secular press, after all, and religion can seem a step removed from the practical world of sewers and subpoenas.  But it is not.” 

Journalism as a Public Forum

“Journalists must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise” (Kovach & Rosenstiel 166). 

James Madison mentioned that the press would further democracy which has proven to be true as we have seen journalism evolve over the years.  The press should have a public forum so there can be many ideas and perspectives of the truth when debated against each other, we may reach a compromise.  A public forum allows others to present their ideas and debate opening new ideas and possibly truth regarding an event or an issue.  Journalism should hold public forums because debates will facilitate a marketplace of ideas.  Ideas that hold the truth will stay while those without verification will be lost.  That way, we can rely on marketplace of idea to sort out the truth, rather than journalists. 

 It is fair to say that call-in talk shows and other media outlets represent the extreme sides of issues in our world.  Presenting only the extremes of an issue often leaves out the middle where the majority of citizens reside.  Therefore, this is excluding the majority of America out of the big picture.  Many would consider these outlets a form of journalism.  While these can be used for journalistic purposes, they often fail reporting the news and focus on their opinions and their ideas.  If these outlets would like to be considered journalism, they need to establish the “same standards of truthfulness or allegiance to public interest as any other part of the profession” (Kovach & Rosenstiel 167).

Roles that journalists should fulfill while facilitating a public forum include:

·         Report with details of scheduled events

·         Disclose wrongdoing

·         Outline developing trends

·         Analyze issues and events

·         Provide context

·         Editorial comment (Columnists)

 “I’m very much inspired by this culture of people who believe that journalism should be about raising hell an intelligent way.  But I don’t mean throwing a brick at someone’s head and saying ‘Yeah, yeah, you’re a jerk.’  You should really be provoking people to think – challenging them to justify and defend their ideas, just as I have to justify and defend mine” (Jon Katz, interview by William Damon, Howard Gardner, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 1998).  Some of the most popular public discussions often fail to expand public discussion.  They focus on arousing others to heated conversations rather than compromise, compromise, compromise, which allows for a marketplace of ideas.  Take for example when Jon Stewart made an appearance on Crossfire.  He came on the show to criticize that they don’t allow for debate but they pin down winners and losers. 

There are so many media outlets that allow us to not only report the news, but also express our opinions.  Newspaper editorials became just one way of expressing one’s thoughts.  With an increase of technology use, there’s now social media, blogging, Wikipedia, talk radio and shows, and so much more.  With these new media outlets, information is faster and allows immediate audience feedback.  However, public debate forums have led into heated arguments trying to distinguish a winner and a loser with opinions rather than taking in many verified facts and weighing them against each other.  Journalists should allow public forums with ideas backed by the truth and verification.  That way, not only will the truth come out but many perspectives of the truth.  These flowing ideas will allow citizens better judgment on what to think rather than how to think.

“Unless the forum is based on a foundation of fact and context, the questions citizens will ask will become simply rhetorical.  The debate will cease to educate; it will only reinforce the prejudgments people arrive with.  The public will be less able to participate in solutions.  Public discourse will not be something we can learn from.  It will dissolve into noise, which the majority of the public will tune out.  The worry is not the wondrous addition of citizen media, but the decline of full-time, professional monitoring of powerful institutions” (Kovach & Rosenstiel 184).

Ethics

Journalists have an obligation to exercise their personal conscience (Kovach & Rosenstiel 231).

            Ethics, dating all the way back to ancient Greece, is the study of the rational way to decide what is good for individuals or society.  Ethics consists of our choices between competing moral principles (Philip Patterson and Lee Wilkins).  A code of ethics can be found in literally all industries.  That code of ethics is what keeps businesses in business.  Journalism has a code of ethics as well but it “issues no profession-wide sanctions against violators of any of these ethical codes” (Willis 51). 

            So, why do journalists bother keeping a code of ethics if they, for lack of better terms, don’t get punished for violating them?  In fact, it is ethics that worries journalists the most.  They contemplate whether they have treated their sources with fairness and if any unnecessary harm was done.  Ethics are what keep journalists up late at night because fairness and balance is what journalists value the most.  Nonetheless, journalists voluntarily adhere to a code of ethics because in many lawsuits involving journalists, when attorneys prove that journalists violated the code of ethics, they lose credibility among audiences and their work is questioned due to honesty.  Many people have regarded journalists to unethical as a whole because if they violate their code of ethics, what else have they violated? 

            As journalists, it is important that we follow a code of ethics because we have a “responsibility to voice [our] personal conscience out loud and allow others around [us] to do so as well” (Kovach & Rosenstiel 231).

            Many news businesses have their own code of ethics such as The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times.  But the most dominant code of ethics, which has been incorporated in all journalist’s personal code of ethics, is the one set by the members of the Society of Professional Journalists (Society of Professional Journalists).  These include:

            Seek the Truth and Report It:  Journalists should be honest, fair, and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.  This is what journalists do every day as part of their duty to citizens.  Not only is it important that we seek the truth by verifying our sources and rechecking our facts, but also that we don’t fabricate our sources and our stories.  Also, allow a diversity of ideas in your stories. 

            Minimize Harm:  Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.  Journalists are humans and so they need to treat their sources as humans.  Journalists will be more in tune with their audiences and sources if they act with some humanity.  Acting with humanity and humility will allow trust between the listener and the news gatherer. 

            Act Independently:  Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know.  Journalism was built on democracy and the public’s interest.  When journalists give their loyalties to lobbyists, organizations, and big companies, rather than presenting the news, there becomes a conflict of interest.  One does not present the news but advocates a private interest.

            Be Accountable:  Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.  Journalists serve an audience, widely referred to as the public.  What journalists put out there is what they consider to be of utmost importance so citizens can decide what to think about events happening around them.  Whatever they decide to publish, not only should they carefully analyze the effect that it will have on their audience, but also they must take the responsibility oh what happens after what they publish.

            It is important for journalists to have a personal code of ethics (a moral compass) and to use wise judgment when they gather and present the news.  Journalists will maintain their credibility and audiences can expect a trust between them and the journalists.  “Only in a newsroom in which all can bring their diverse viewpoints to bear will the news have any chance of accurately anticipating and reflecting the increasingly diverse perspectives and needs of American culture” (Kovach & Rosenstiel 231).

Watchdog Journalism

             “Investigative reporting’s roots were firmly established in the very first periodicals, in the earliest notions of the meaning of a free press and the First Amendment, and in the motivation of journalists throughout the profession’s history.  These roots are so strong, they form a fundamental principle:  journalists must serve as an independent monitor of power” (Kovach & Rosenstiel 140).  For many years, journalism’s role as a watchdog has furthered along democracy and freedom.  When journalism first started out, one of the largest roles it played was being a watchdog on those in power.  It was journalism that helped citizens discover that their leaders were abusing power and that they are not under absolute rule.

            There are 3 types of investigative reporting:  original, interpretative, and reporting on investigations.

            “Original investigative reporting involves reporters themselves uncovering and documenting activities that have been previously unknown to the public” (Kovach & Rosenstiel 145).  Original investigative reporting is similar to police work and official public investigations.  This involves searching through public records, doing undercover work, monitoring of activities, and much more.  Original investigative reporting uncovers information not gathered by others in order to inform the public of events or circumstances that might affect their lives.  An example of original investigative reporting is when Marcus Stern and Jerry Kammer of the San Diego Union-Tribune led an investigation about Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham.  Stern noticed some relationships between Cunningham’s travel and style of living.  Stern along with Kammer searched through campaign contributions from defense contractors.  There, they found financial exchanges that led to bribery.  This led to the resignation and criminal conviction charges of Cunningham (Marcus Stern, “Cunningham Defends Deal with Defense Firm’s Owner,” June 12, 2005).

 Interpretative investigative reporting is similar to original interpretative reporting in the fact that they both use the same methods of investigation but interpretative investigative reporting takes the interpretation to a different level. “Interpretative reporting develops as the result of careful thought and analysis of an idea as well as dogged pursuit of facts to bring together information in a new, more complete context that provides deeper public understanding” (Kovach & Rosenstiel 146).   An example of interpretative investigative reporting is when a team of reporters for the New York Times published a ten-part series about social class by taking demographic and socioeconomic data.   With their research, they published articles concluding that “class - defined as a combination of income, education, wealth and occupation – influences destiny in a society that likes to think of itself as a land of unbounded opportunity” (New York Times, “Class Matters – Social Class in the United States of America,” May-June 2005).

Reporting on investigations is reporting that “develops from the discovery or leak of information from an official investigation already under way or in preparation by others, usually government agencies” (Kovach & Rosenstiel 147).  In other words, it is a type of reporting that happens after an investigation takes place.  Information is then released through anonymous sources leaking information or discovery through the investigation.  An example of reporting of investigations is when Richard Jewell was assumed to have planted a bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.  The information was leaked through anonymous leaks from police and FBI sources.  After the investigation, it proved to be false. 

While investigative reporting continues to be an integral part of journalism, the watchdog role has weakened over the years.  Investigative reporting started out revealing abuses of power in: education, economics, foreign affairs, the military, national security, politics, and social welfare.   Those areas affected the most people and it is where the majority of everyone’s money is spent.  However, a study in 1997 revealed that more than half the stories in investigative reporting now are focused on lifestyle, behavior, consumerism, health, or celebrity entertainment (Project for Excellence in Journalism, “Changing Definitions of News: A Look at the Mainstream Press over 20 Years,” March 6, 1998, 3). While most of the reporting seems to be original investigative work, it’s not.  In fact, most of it is “stunted.”  They come from TV news consultants who offer stations the scripts, the shots, the experts to the interview, or the interviews already on tape, staged to generate ratings for sweeps periods.  While shows like Dateline, 20/20, and 60 Minutes do provide some investigation in their shows, their purpose is entertainment and to do good programming. 

Here’s a link to a clip from Saturday Night Live doing a parody on Dateline.  Although it is poking fun at the show, it illustrates that those “investigative reporting” shows have focused more on good programming rather than being a watchdog and an independent power.

·         Journalism has been the watchdog for centuries with various methods of investigative reporting.

·         However, journalism’s role as a watchdog has continued to change over the years due to entertainment shows who claim to be doing investigative reporting.