A plea for journalism
The company I work for, one of the largest on the west coast, is in the midst of gutting its newsrooms and operations after a hefty takeover of a respected south bay paper in the name of cost-cutting. Profits from advertising are down for the $1 billion company, which means it is incapable of sustaining profits only matched by oil companies. Shareholders and private owners have been seeking like drug addicts the 20-25 percent profits that should be seen as an aberration rather than a bottom-line.
The atmosphere is terrible in the newsrooms, with rumors flying faster than breaking news. My newsroom is anemic, with reporters barely holding on to what little passion they have.
That the country is in such a sorry state is partly because reporters, editors, publishers and owners didn't do their job. But the FEWER REPORTERS THERE ARE THE LESS LIKELY DEMOCRACY IS TO BE SERVED.
It takes time and people to keep track of politicians and other public servants. That is what companies like mine are taking away.
They are laying off reporters, thereby stretching thin the reporters that remain. Newspapers need a staff that looks more like an army than a public relations office.
There are the lone bloggers who track down or publicize stories not reported by the big papers (TV news is a whole different story that I cannot defend), but are they covering five other stories that their editors want but that are less important? No. They are sitting at a computer with one thread, insulated for whatever reason from the pressure that reporters are bogged down by. Imagine what would happen if all the talented people were pooled together - dozens or even hundreds - on the trail of malfeasance. Instead, newspapers are cutting staff across the board.
Every person fired is a story less that can be reported. It's not an exaggeration. That is my life right now. I have colleagues wanting to abandon journalism because of the profits pressure. I don't care about the profits. I care about serving the public with news that helps people make decisions and keeps the official decision-makers honest and responsible. I've gone out on a ledge to write stories that officials hate me for. One tried to get me fired recently. My editor stood up for me but it shows you what a game it can be. What if there was no one there to tell residents how their tax money was, or wasn't, being spent? What if there were a lot more of us who could really dig into how it is being spent?
If you want reporters to be tougher then tell the publishers and owners not only what reporters are doing wrong, but that when they fire us YOU are going to get less news - real news.
It's easy to find out who they are. Every paper carries a page listing them. Or just call or e-mail the reporter and ask. My paper prints the reporters' contact info at the bottom of each story.
Reporters are not popular right now, sometimes for good reason. But it is the public that loses when there are less of them and owners answer to their bank accounts instead of their readers. Don't be afraid of negative news. The bad news is more likely true than false as we've seen with Iraq, the presidency, Congress, and other issues. In fact, reporters are able to print far less than the whole truth, or what would make it all seem to make sense because of obstacles editors and publishers throw up, as well as their own weaknesses - whether it is laziness, lack of training or imagination, bias or other reasons.
The first steps, however, are to make the bosses open up the pages to facts, make them look at their responsibility to YOU instead of to the bottom line and spend the money to make it possible.
The atmosphere is terrible in the newsrooms, with rumors flying faster than breaking news. My newsroom is anemic, with reporters barely holding on to what little passion they have.
That the country is in such a sorry state is partly because reporters, editors, publishers and owners didn't do their job. But the FEWER REPORTERS THERE ARE THE LESS LIKELY DEMOCRACY IS TO BE SERVED.
It takes time and people to keep track of politicians and other public servants. That is what companies like mine are taking away.
They are laying off reporters, thereby stretching thin the reporters that remain. Newspapers need a staff that looks more like an army than a public relations office.
There are the lone bloggers who track down or publicize stories not reported by the big papers (TV news is a whole different story that I cannot defend), but are they covering five other stories that their editors want but that are less important? No. They are sitting at a computer with one thread, insulated for whatever reason from the pressure that reporters are bogged down by. Imagine what would happen if all the talented people were pooled together - dozens or even hundreds - on the trail of malfeasance. Instead, newspapers are cutting staff across the board.
Every person fired is a story less that can be reported. It's not an exaggeration. That is my life right now. I have colleagues wanting to abandon journalism because of the profits pressure. I don't care about the profits. I care about serving the public with news that helps people make decisions and keeps the official decision-makers honest and responsible. I've gone out on a ledge to write stories that officials hate me for. One tried to get me fired recently. My editor stood up for me but it shows you what a game it can be. What if there was no one there to tell residents how their tax money was, or wasn't, being spent? What if there were a lot more of us who could really dig into how it is being spent?
If you want reporters to be tougher then tell the publishers and owners not only what reporters are doing wrong, but that when they fire us YOU are going to get less news - real news.
It's easy to find out who they are. Every paper carries a page listing them. Or just call or e-mail the reporter and ask. My paper prints the reporters' contact info at the bottom of each story.
Reporters are not popular right now, sometimes for good reason. But it is the public that loses when there are less of them and owners answer to their bank accounts instead of their readers. Don't be afraid of negative news. The bad news is more likely true than false as we've seen with Iraq, the presidency, Congress, and other issues. In fact, reporters are able to print far less than the whole truth, or what would make it all seem to make sense because of obstacles editors and publishers throw up, as well as their own weaknesses - whether it is laziness, lack of training or imagination, bias or other reasons.
The first steps, however, are to make the bosses open up the pages to facts, make them look at their responsibility to YOU instead of to the bottom line and spend the money to make it possible.
posted by A.W. Woodall at 10:19 PM
1 comments
