Is It News or Opinion or Does It Matter?
Excellent piece by Jay Rosen at PressThink on changing dynamics of the political press. His main conclusion:
He said, she said is nowhere near enough, and every time things are left that way the press loses influence. Advertising that you’re unbiased is also not enough. The press should go further. It should draw defensible conclusions, and make its way forward by defending, explaining–publicly justifying–those conclusions.
A couple other interesting points include:
“the press” (including the campaign press) isn’t confined within news organizations anymore. Universities (Columbia, Penn, USC) have a piece of it, as they have for a long time in book publishing.
Authority in journalism is up grabs today; credentials matter less, but they still matter. … But having good informaton matters more, relative to an “established” reputation, because people will find what’s good…
