Friday, February 10, 2006
American journalism is in trouble. This summer, while images of the “runaway bride” were splashed across our television screens, Turkey was denied entry into the European Union and the future of the EU stood on shaky grounds. Although this event would have lasting effects on the American economy and diplomatic relationships, the American press barely stirred.
That same summer, a Senate panel grilled professional baseball players about the use of steroids. As George Henson of Dallas said in a letter to the New York Times in August of 2005, “All the feigned shock and awe about Rafael Palmeiro’s steroid use is about as newsworthy as the runaway bride.” One couldn’t turn on the television without seeing concerned, paunchy white men frowning down at gargantuan athletes.
There has been a slow, almost imperceptible, movement of the American media to focus on the fluff and ignore the substance. And, the forecast on the horizon is bleak. The traditional newsroom is becoming a relic. Large corporations have slowly gobbled up papers across the nation, and bit by bit have gutted newsrooms and left reporters to wallow in their own entrails, so to speak.
Corporations tend to shy away from controversial stories, so the fluff is played off as “hard-hitting” news. Fewer reporters means fewer chances for journalists to catch a scandal. Increased tripe means we’re more likely to alienate readers fed up with “infotainment.”
The Michael Jackson trial saw swarms of reporters, hitting on such “late-breaking news” as Jackson showing up in pajamas. With all the reporters clamoring and braying questions at Jackson from behind a fence, it wasn’t so much a media circus as a media zoo.
We, as journalists need to get back to our roots. Perhaps not in the style of writing of the 1930s and 40s, but to the core of what the fourth estate is all about: Hard news that affects the public.
Journalism has to evolve if we want to stay relevant. But, we cannot lose our values along the way. A newspaper is not the place for headlines trumpeting the break up of flash-in-the-pan celebrities. The newspaper is a vehicle to change minds, to inform the public and to be the guardians of the people.
It’s a profession that once harbored bulldogs like Woodward, Bernstein and H.L. Mencken. We’ve never been popular, but now we’re openly mocked. Now we have Geraldo.
A revolution must come from within the journalistic community. It’s time to hit the streets, dig for information and let people know what is happening in the world and how it affects them.
Paris Hilton doesn’t matter. Michael Jackson doesn’t matter. The runaway bride doesn’t matter. Celebrity doesn’t necessitate a front page, above the fold article.
For God’s sake, President Theodore Roosevelt gave us the name “muckraker” because reporters were willing to crawl on their hands and knees through the filth to get the story. What the hell happened to that?
It is a knife my heart to see readership declining in newspapers. It makes me nauseous to see the break of Brad and Jen as the second headline on BBC.
It doesn’t have to be sensational; it doesn’t have to send the country into turmoil like the Watergate stories. It can be as simple as preventing a city commission from screwing over the “little guy.” Carl Hiaasen, Miami Herald columnist, often bemoans the dangers of not being a watchdog for the people that your paper serves.
The journalistic community owes it to readers. We are a waypoint between point A and point B, and it’s high time for a new golden age of journalistic integrity. For the rest, let them read People.
Vierthaler is a Dodge City junior in journalism.
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