You are the one

I feel I have been nothing but sneaky towards my blogging ethics, as it’s been more than a month without me posting. I have disrespected the main journalistic “law”: obligation towards citizens. Seriously now, have I? OK, considering the amount of followers I have, may be not really.

However, there is someone who had noticed my absence, and I would like to thank him for letting me know. I promise from now on to be more responsible regarding my readers; or my only one reader. If my sayings and writings have the power to affect in any way even just one person out there, I am quite happy to keep it this way and not let it go. Who knows? One person may be two next week, and 20 next month; why not 200 next year?

My reader is also interested in the book The Elements of Journalism; What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, and my review on it – the one that was part of my autumn’s term assessment. I had corrections and points addressed from my tutor, but overall the feedback was not bad at all.

At a time when truth is so hard to be reached and journalism is losing both its identity and its public, Kovach and Rosenstiel are coming up with this great unconditional offer to everyone who produces or receives information in any way. The Elements of Journalism: What newspeople should know and the public should expectis a substantial dialogue between the citizens and journalists across the media and across cultures.

The idea for this book came after June 1997 when some prominent newspaper editors, broadcasters, journalism educators and a few authors met at Columbia University to discuss the state of journalism in the United States. The reason for this was their conviction that there was something seriously wrong with the profession. They were worried about the state of journalism and the public distrust of the media. Also, they began to agree with the public that journalism was increasingly damaging public interest instead of serving it. They decided to engage both journalists and the public to determine what journalists were supposed to be and what the core principles of journalism were (Tobie Wiese, Save journalism – to what end? Global Media Journal African Edition, 2008 Vol 2 (2)).

Kovach and Rosenstiel do not cover their eyes denying that modern journalism is suffering. However, they do not take part in the drama about a bleeding and slowly dying journalism by the ‘punches’ of technology and new media. Instead of panicking and feeling terrorised, professional journalists, they propose, should leave on the side their reputation and self-interests, and proudly admit that the news production is going through a change.

But, why journalists are so surprised and even disappointed to find this out? Didn’t they know that their profession is a reflection of the culture they are members of? Societies are “live organisms”, which cannot stay forever stable due to acknowledged Auguste Comte’s sociological theory.

How is this transition reflected in the contemporary practice of journalism? “The news is becoming less of a prepared lecture and more of an open-mike conversation, with all the pluses and minuses that implies” (Kovach and Rosenstiel, 2007, xii). The Elements of Journalism interrogates citizen journalism: Do citizens have the time, the motivation, and the skills required? If not, then do those who try to cover the news professionally have the skills and the will to help citizens gain these tools? This updated and revised edition proposes a mutual sympathy that should determine citizens and journalists in the name of quality journalism.

The weakness of professional journalism is not because of the threat coming from technology. Borrowing authors’ quotes: “But the character of internet discussion groups is not the issue. Technology did not create the attitudes of those who participate. Machines do not change human nature” (Kovach and Rosenstiel, 2007, 182).

The weakness is more likely to be coming from the lack of journalists to remember towards whom their deeper obligation is. Journalists tend to focus more on the demands of the market rather than on their audience. The values within the newsrooms are declining as time becomes more and more a luxury and journalism itself a competitive business.

The very best point of Kovach’s and Rosentiel’s work is that even if we accept the fact that every generation creates its own journalism, the ten elements addressed will not change; they are timeless and global. Nonetheless, new principles can always be added on the top of the already existing ones.

This book is the perfect “welcoming” for young people to the world of professional journalism, as it is not another repetition of prolonged academic theories, detached from the actual body of the news production. As the writers put it: “This book is the fruit of examination. It is not an argument. It is, rather, a description of the theory and culture of journalism that emerged from three years of listening to citizens and journalists, from our empirical studies, and from our reading of the history of the profession as it evolved in the USA” (Kovach and Rosenstiel, 2007, 5). Kovach and Rosenstiel are trying to give the next generation of journalists a template to inspire their work.

As a reader personally involved in the news production, I found very lovely the metaphor of journalists as the earlier mapmakers of the 15^th century. “Journalists who devote far more time and space to a sensational trial or celebrity scandal than they know it deserves – because they think it will sell – are like the cartographers who drew England or Spain the size of Greenland because it was popular. It may make short-term economic sense but it misleads the traveler and eventually destroys the credibility of the mapmaker” (Kovach and Rosenstiel, 2007).

1200 journalists have been contributing to this work, which I would characterise as “piece of art”. Kovach and Rosential do not use amplifications in order to attract readers’ attention; the book is simple and true; it speaks for itself.

The Elements of journalism should exist on the bookcase of every individual who wants to be called journalist; the book should be skimmed through from time to time in order journalists to reconsider their identity and their obligations towards society. If we could all agree to that, professional journalism would not have been a mixture of scandals, plagiarism, lies and fake sources anymore, but a provocation towards people to think; “a challenge for citizens to defend their ideas and govern themselves.”

Finally, I would like to point out that this book is not merely about addressing the problems, risks and deficiencies of modern professional journalism, but also about its possibilities, that are yet not to be appreciated enough and tend to be forgotten.

Journalism is followed by an era of doubt and confusion. This is what makes this book even more valuable. The Elements of Journalism is the glasses every journalist should put on in order to see the world of media in its real dimensions and not as he or she is still dreaming of it or remembers it.

I feel lucky to start my career in journalism by holding this book in my hands. It makes me feel more powerful, more confident and more aware of what to expect and what to offer.