WSJ ’s Seib: Journalists Must Stick to Their Mission
Jerry Seib, Wall Streeet Journal Washington bureau chief, in a speech at the University of Kansas and posted at Romenesko, expresses concern about the future of journalism, but thinks it will survive and thrive by sticking to its ethic of objective and unbiased reporting.
It is a long speech worth a complete read, here are some highpoints:
Technology and the winds of economic change have…roared through our profession…And it is scary….
Solid news organizations shouldn’t fear change, but should embrace it….
If journalists are doing their jobs right, their skills will not only be needed in the long run, but will be more valuable than ever….
I fear that 2004 became the year when many Americans decided they could go out and get the news not as it is, but as they want it to be. Technology and the proliferation of pseudo news outlets on the Internet and cable TV have made this possible. Our country’s intense political polarization has fed the urge. Mainstream journalism’s own failings have fueled it…
If you can find comfortable confirmation of your preconceived notions somewhere, you then feel compelled to attack the mainstream press for not presenting the news in that same way….
This tendency is exacerbated by a new arrival of those bloggers. Now, some bloggers do quite good research…But others are simply crusaders masquerading as journalists, providing comfort to those looking not for truth but for confirmation of preconceived prejudices and notions.
Real journalism is harder and less comfortable than the fake kind. That’s precisely why democracy has depended upon it.
So we’re now on the edge of a dangerous slope. With economic pressures high right now, we in the mainstream press will be — indeed, already are– tempted to play to the crowd and package the news to please one side or the other.
Some people will argue, Seib says, that having a partisan press is okay:
First, they will say that this is nothing new — in fact, that it merely takes journalism back to a model that exists today in much of Europe, and one that existed earlier in this country’s history, where newspapers were openly partisan voices of one party or another….
Putting aside history, some will say that the idea of impartial, objective journalism always has been a myth, or at least a mirage. Press critics will say there is no such thing as real objectivity. Reporters always bring their personal prejudices into their writing, they will argue….
And let’s be honest — we in the mainstream press have fed this belief with our own shortcomings over the years. We need to admit that there has too often been a liberal slant…
By the same token, anybody who thinks all the tilting has been to the left should have the chance to listen to former President Clinton bitterly complain about the press treatment he received in the 1990s, as I have, and to read the emails I now receive referring to the mainstream press as lapdogs of the Bush administration.
But I have always believed that if mainstream journalism is colored by anything, it’s been colored more by the lust to find controversy and conflict, than by a partisan agenda. And if we’ve failed in the past, is that an argument for throwing in the towel-for simply surrendering our public trust to serve not one side or the other in political debate, but to serve the broader public? I think not.
What an objective, neutral press can do that nobody else can is this: It can shine a light on dark corners of our public life, and do so with credibility.
So what do we do to keep that kind of press alive and thriving in the changed environment I’ve described? Far from conceding, we need to redouble our efforts to show our objectivity and independence and credibility. Far from buckling under to intimidation from one side or another, we need to show courage.
Let us take solace from the fact that one of the most popular web sites last year was named, simply ,factcheck.org, and its sole mission was to do honest fact-checking of political claims by one side or the other….
But we also need to learn something from those bloggers. Let’s use technology to stay in better touch with our readers. Let’s use it to give our journalism the same sense of immediacy and urgency. We all either will embrace change, or get run over by it….
…journalism will survive, and, yes, thrive. Let us have faith in our mission, even as we explore the ways technology and an information avalanche can make traditional journalism not only more relevant, but more important.
