There comes a point in any aspiring journalists' college career when they question how major media outlets cover the news. I reached this epiphany long before I first stepped foot on Ferris State's campus. In fact, I now find how the news is covered more interesting than the stories themselves. While I enjoy reliable news outlets, I occasionally find myself watching FoxNews and The Daily Show for the juxtaposition, and a few laughs.
If you're a news junky like me, you've surely notice the recycling of today's news. Maybe Capitol Hills is bogged-down in debate, or another bomb went off in X-stan, but it's usually a story we've read before. Writers often find new angles on the same old stories, but more often than not, they fail miserably. Instead, they strive for objectivity over the truth. This leaves many readers with an idea of each competing faction's stance, but ill-informed on the big picture. Looking beyond, to the causes of a story, seems the logical evolution of the information age and journalism to come.
The April post on PressThink (http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/) analyzes one of the cookie-cutter approaches to news writing that often arises in the current 24-hour news cycle, the "he said/she said" approach. Jay Rosen of PressThink offers great insight on many writers unwillingness to dig for truth on controversial subjects. His examples and analysis of the NY Times' A.I.G. coverage is a must-read. I strongly agreed with Rosen's assessment that prioritizing objectivity over the search for answers is dangerous for the populous, and democracy especially. Rosen believes this straddling of an argument, coupled with lazy fact-checking, has unfortunately become acceptable in many newsrooms.
I've yet to read more than a couple blogs on PressThink, but I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in the theories behind journalism.
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2 comments:
A quote by Woodward: "The best available version of the truth."
This quote also touches on this issues. We can't ignore the bigger picture as journalists, even if we don't have all 23 facts in line with how to get there. We need to report it. Not publishing a big-picture article because we're hung up on finding fact No. 8 can derail important information from getting to the people.
Reports need to be critical thinkers, not just information machines.
Most of the time I think readers and viewers are more interested in hearing what is happening in the world around them. Then it seems they turn off their TVs and complain that it is always the same story. Journalists tell different stories from different angles to make sure they cover all the grounds, but many people may not realize that.
Blogs like PressThink allow people who are interested in where the news comes from, and going beyond just the story, focus and discuss on issues that may come up when writing a story. The blog was very informative, and I read some posts just to see what was being discussed. I, too, would recommend it to readers, just so they can get a better sense as to what goes on beyond the printed pages.
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