The Journalist Right Now
After the invention of the printing press there was a long period of societal restructuring as the technology facilitated mass communication for the first time. Ideas were shared more widely and faster than ever before and all forms of society were re-organized by this communication revolution; government, education and religious organizations were all disrupted it was the democratization of information. The internet is as revolutionary a technology as the printing press and we are currently experiencing a period of change on a scale comparable with the scale of the societal reorganization that accompanied the printing press, we will argue that the internet has been the democratization of communication.
The public perception of journalism has long been one of the “journalist as a hero” where the journalist is the ‘fourth estate’ which holds the powerful to account. This is a view that journalists have internalized, forming what Mark Deuze , a journalism academic, describes as “a consensual occupational ideology."
Deuze lists the concepts, values and beliefs of the journalism ideology. Listed below are these current ideologies of journalism, and essentially, why in the current environment, these are no longer relevant.
Public Service:
Journalists provide a public service (as watchdogs or ‘newshounds’; active collectors and disseminators of information)
While yes, public service was once relevant for the journalists as gatekeepers of information, this is no longer true. At one time the journalist was there to hold people in power to account, however now the journalist is the power. Therefore rendering them unable to hold those in power to account because they are these people.
Objectivity:
Journalists are impartial, neutral, objective, fair and (thus) credible
As a group we recognize that objectivity is still important for a journalist, the idea sounds nice, but is not a reflection of what is happening. Professional objectivity is a defense mechanism against the criticism from the audience of biases. But we argue that recognizing that a bias exists is more important than “the view from nowhere” This is a term coined by Jay Rosen, a professor of Journalism at NYU. What he says is that there is this expectation of journalists that they show a balance through both sides of the debate, even if these are not accurate.
Autonomy:
Journalists must be autonomous, free and independent in their work
This has become an issue regarding the fact of media ownership. There is no denying that most of the time journalists work for someone, and especially in Australia where the media ownership is very concentrated, it is impossible to be autonomous. This links to the idea of the fourth estate. Oscar Wilde said
“Somebody called journalism the fourth estate. That was true at the time, no doubt. But at the present moment it is the only estate, It has eaten up the other three. We are dominated by journalism.
This quote is from 1891, in other words people have been calling bullshit on the idea of complete autonomy since the late 19th century.
Immediacy:
Journalists have a sense of immediacy, actuality and speed (inherent in the concept of ‘news’)
At the time immediacy is extremely relevant even now more than ever, in the digital age. While we value getting our information promptly, not at the expense of accurate information. News stories will now break without journalists, it is more important now more than ever that their facts are correct.
Ethics:
Journalists have a sense of ethics, validity and legitimacy
Ethics will always be important in the profession of journalism. While every journalist has different personal ethics, there will always be core professional ethics. It is how these are applied to different situations that is beginning to change.
As outlined above, the ideologies of journalism as Mark Dueze presents them, do not fit into the current environment. The cause of the irrelevancy of these old ideologies is because of the democratization that the internet allows for regarding communication.
The internet is a facilitator for modules of open journalism such as blogging, citizen journalism and other social media outlets. These modules are calling into question the traditional roles of the journalist.
Greg Jericho known better by his online name Grog’s Gamut, gave a lecture in May to The University of Canberra which is relevant to this discussion. To give a little background on Mr. Jericho, he was once a public service agent and part-time political blogger. However, during the 2010 federal election campaign Jericho began to blog about poor policy coverage from the journalists. He was eventually outed for this criticism and subsequently lost his job. The scandal, for lack of a better word, led to a lot of attention to the Australian blogesphere.
The example of Jericho is one of many how citizen journalism, has threatened the role of traditional journalism. Jericho was displeased with the policy coverage, or lack there of, and as a citizen blogger, did something about it. Australian’s now have access to information- we can watch 24 hour news coverage, watch press conferences, hear the questions journalists are asking.
This concept, as Jericho will also note, it threatening the role of the journalist,
"they are unable to cope with this, what I think is a widening gyre of social media, in which journalists words are taken and spun away from their hands"
This puts the journalist at a crossroads, do they push on in their traditional ways? To explore possible answer to this please visit our proposal page.