Loyalty

In class on Tuesday it was said that journalism is like a covenant with the public.  When this idea was presented, it gave me the impression that journalism was sacred, and I guess in a sense, it is.  The public is trusting us to give them the truth.  It's as simple as that.  As journalists, we have promised to be loyal to our citizens and as a result, they will be loyal to us.  Without readers, there is no point for journalists.  So why on earth would one want to jeopardize that special bond between reader and writer?  For a more in-depth look at the changing problem of loyalty in journalism, check out this article by Mark Doremus and Karen Slattery from The Digital Journalist.

I believe that loyalty is an element of journalism.  And if there are any journalists out there who feel the same way and would like to maintain that special loyalty with their citizens they should remember and cultivate these five characteristics:  commit to the citizens first, hire business managers who also put citizens first, set and communicate clear standards, have the final say over the news and communicate clear standards to the public.

As sad as it is, journalism is also a business and certain things just can't be ignored.  Because what good is journalism if it doesn't sell?  But then again, what good is journalism if it's tied down to the interests of its shareholders instead of the interests of the citizen?

Let's finish off with a little history review shall we?  Even from the beginning, newspapers have covered local news and international affairs, advertisers were sought out and new technology was changing the face of news.  Now if only the paper still cost us just a penny a day!  While there are many similarities between the news of yesterday and today, we need to remember that journalism has come a long way since the 1700s.  We no longer wait for the news to come to us, now, we go out and find the news.

I feel like journalism has come a long way, but it's still in it's young adult years.  It's mind boggling to think how far we've come in a few hundred years and how far we're going to go in a hundred more!

Side Note:  I figured that with how often we've mentioned this movie in class (especially while talking about the history of media structures) it'd be a sin not to include a clip.  Enjoy!