Week 1: Intro/preface and what is journalism for?

Introduction/preface  The digital revolution has transformed journalism and also has exposed its vulnerabilities.  Technology has fomented tension between journalists and management.  It has also created tension between citizen journalists publishing on the web and journalists formed by tradition and training.  “The news is becoming less of a prepared lecture and more of an open-mike conversation, with all the pluses and minuses that implies.” (TEOJ preface)

Intro/preface  The landscape for journalism today:  Corporate ownership  Economic uncertainty  Public attitudes  New technology  Government censorship  Citizen journalism

Intro/preface  Segments of the old news industry (newspapers, network news) see audiences disappearing.  Business pressures and corporate ownership seem to be minimizing journalism in pursuit of a better bottom line.  Government/politicians using journalism or ignoring it to craft policy and control

 “[Journalists] are in what we call the reality- based community…That’s not the way the world works anymore …When we act, we create our own reality.” (page 30 TEJ)

Intro/preface  Journalists are under intense scrutiny by bloggers… competition for news audiences and sometimes devastating criticism.  cbs/6eo3stn?cpkey=dc8d248b-a802-4ce1-abdb-6becb5fcddcf cbs/6eo3stn?cpkey=dc8d248b-a802-4ce1-abdb-6becb5fcddcf  The news is going online: The web, YouTube, smartphones, Twitter, IM, text alerts.  We are wired today. Journalists must be wired too. Like this student newspaper: 

 Free press in electronic age  Journos traditional gatekeeping role is challenged by social media, the Internet… no longer can dictate what’s news…  Consumers are no longer passive… they are producing news products… I-journalists  But do they have the time, the skills, the ethics, tenacity… to survive over time?

 Access to independent information allows citizens to make informed decisions  Government will plant “news” and set its own press agenda… it will use tech to dilute its influence and discredit its integrity.   Corporations will set an agenda stressing certain news and eliminating others… promoting consumerism.  oil-loves-the-earth oil-loves-the-earth

Scandals, ethics, controversy

Scandals, ethics  False photographs  Changing quotes  Manipulating video sound bites  Messing with chronology  Fudging facts  ue-november /sean-hannity- uses-glenn-beck-s-protest-footage ue-november /sean-hannity- uses-glenn-beck-s-protest-footage 

Pew Research Center survey

The purpose of journalism  ‘The primary purpose of journalism is to provide people with the information they need to be self- governing.” (page 12 TEOJ)  To fulfill this task:  The Element of Journalism

The Elements of Journalism  “This book is the fruit of that examination. It is not an argument. It is, rather, a description of the theory and culture of journalism that emerged from three years of listening to citizens and journalists, from our empirical studies, and from our reading of the history of the profession as it evolved in the United States.” (TEOJ intro page 5)

The Elements of Journalism  Journalism's first obligation is to the truth.  Its first loyalty is to the citizens.  Its essence is discipline of verification.  Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.  It must serve as an independent monitor of power.  It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.  It must strive to make the significant interesting, and relevant.  It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.  Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.  Citizens, too, have rights and responsibilities when it comes to the news

An instinct to want to know  Definition of news consistent among cultures  Hunger to know what the hell-is-going-on  Call it the Awareness Instinct  When the feed stops… darkness falls  If journalism fails, what will replace it?  Who would provide accurate, reliable, uncensored and comprehensive information?

The purpose of journalism  ‘The primary purpose of journalism is to provide people with the information they need to be self-governing.” (page 12 EOJ)

Your moment of journo Zen 