Thursday, February 09, 2006

Imprimis

These are my thoughts and I am responsible for them. Nothing about my education or experience equips me to snipe at the news and journalists except that I am, like you, an often disappointed consumer of the news. I listen to the radio, watch television, read professional journals, magazines and newspapers and I subscribe to e-mailed discussion lists. For instant, up to the minute news I tune in the radio or check out an internet source such as Google or Yahoo.

Journalism is one of the 'professions' and has a special place in western society. Journalists are accorded extra respect and often operate from a seat of privilege not available to non-journalists. They also have extra responsibilities....

Journalists should operate from a factual platform and they should report facts. They should spell and pronounce proper names correctly, be able to tell North from East and fish from fowl. For the most part, journalists should hold themselves apart from the politics and loyalties in events and report what they see and hear. This is not always possible and reporters are often co-opted by the news policies of the organizations they serve, but so far as is possible the journalist should be an observer and an honest reporter of events, not a participant.

I don't mean that journalists should be dispassionate machines. Sometimes they
must act, to save a life or prevent an injury. This is understood, and any journalist who opts to keep on filming and talking when they could save the life of a non-combatant, - should be beaten. Journalists don't operate from the same ethic as the zoologist, who refuses to interfere in the life and death of animals because 'it's nature's way'. They operate from within species boundaries and are therefore obligated to protect members of their own species when possible. It's a part of being human. There is one caveat. Once the journalist has acted, they become a participant, not a reporter, and they should stop reporting. It's over. Where did I get these rules and opinions? I made 'em up. If you don't like them, invent your own, or take a journalism degree. So let's face it, every journalist can't be IF Stone or Seymour Hersh - still they should merit being welcomed by parents as potential members of the family.

Television has changed everything about journalism, and now the internet is changing it again. The News is no longer. Now it's a caricature.

The Nooz.

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