To be fair, most of the bad journalism out there is TV. There are problems with newspapers, definitely, but on the whole, they tend to be better than the Reporter Barbie and Ken dolls most TV news hires. Part of this, of course, is because TV news is simply one part of a larger package of content. News isn't all or most of what they do, so they're not that motivated to make it better. (Radio, as you know, suffers from much of the same problem; even news stations are owned by massive media companies like Clear Channel, which alters how they approach things.)
The best journalism, I've found, comes from independent but professional media--places owned by family companies or small chains, instead of something owned by Gannett or Murdoch. The smaller the company, the less likely they are to be motivated by profit, and thus spinning their stories to fit what advertisers and owners want.
But by the same token, very small independent media is riddled with bias because of the lack of gatekeepers. It's impossible to really keep track of what a handful of rogues do when they have no one to answer to. And really good journalists have jobs--they don't work for free for a propaganda rag.
The best journalism is transparent. It tells you where it gets its info from. "according to a DOJ memo" or "said Don Birch, CFO of the company." Anonymous sources--anything that says "sources say" or "according to those close to..." should be used sparingly, and only in situations where it's obvious that a cloaked internal informant is vital. Anything printed in a news story should come from a source that, given enough time and effort, the reader could go back to and look at or talk to herself.
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momijizukamori
Re: journalism
Date: 2006-12-02 02:16 am (UTC)The best journalism, I've found, comes from independent but professional media--places owned by family companies or small chains, instead of something owned by Gannett or Murdoch. The smaller the company, the less likely they are to be motivated by profit, and thus spinning their stories to fit what advertisers and owners want.
But by the same token, very small independent media is riddled with bias because of the lack of gatekeepers. It's impossible to really keep track of what a handful of rogues do when they have no one to answer to. And really good journalists have jobs--they don't work for free for a propaganda rag.
The best journalism is transparent. It tells you where it gets its info from. "according to a DOJ memo" or "said Don Birch, CFO of the company." Anonymous sources--anything that says "sources say" or "according to those close to..." should be used sparingly, and only in situations where it's obvious that a cloaked internal informant is vital. Anything printed in a news story should come from a source that, given enough time and effort, the reader could go back to and look at or talk to herself.