Chicago's venerable alderman (retired) from Hyde Park, 101-year old Leon Depres, also known as "the conscience of the city" recalls his 1937 meeting with Leon Trotsky in Mexico, which led to his introduction to Diego Rivera and wife, Frida Kahlo. Rivera painted a portrait of Depres' wife, Marian. That painting now hangs at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Journalism in the time of Joe the Plumber
By Ted Regencia
The other day, I watched with concern, as the nightly news carried a story on Election 2008 everyman, Joe the Plumber, becoming a foreign correspondent in the ongoing conflict in Gaza. I became more troubled when I read online that Joe, whose real name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, wanted the media "abolished" from the war zone. "I liked back in World War I and World War II, when you'd go to the theater and you'd see your troops on the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for them," the Washington Post quoted him as saying. He went on to accuse reporters of not being "patriotic" for reporting the war.
The spectacle surrounding the Ohio native's trip to Israel, highlights the perils of citizen journalism going out of control. Instead of covering the news, Wurzelbacher became the newsmaker, advocating an overtly biased opinion of the conflict. By confusing his celebrity status with his message, he undermined the essence of serious journalism: The delivery of objective, informed and balanced news. What's most alarming is, he actually believes that he's reporting the "real story."
In today's free-for-all media environment, the role of professional journalists as gatekeepers of information has become even more critical. The dominance of 24-hour cable news and the Internet, allows information to travel the world in an instant. And the widespread use of personalized gadgets, only ensures mass transmission while spawning self-proclaimed reporters. But the responsibility to guarantee that, that information is factual and fair, fundamentally rests on the professional journalists.
Cut-throat competition and ratings game, however, caused the media establishment to put its guard down, and shrink from its sacred duty of safeguarding the accuracy of the news. The race to make it first, has compromised the need to make it right. Thus giving critics some ammunition to accuse them, of being no different from fly-by-night blogs and partisan online muggers.
Take the case of CNN. Last October 2008, it reported that Apple CEO Steve Jobs suffered a heart attack, causing a temporary drop of the company's stock price. The report was based on a posting on its innovative citizen journalist section, iReport. It turned out to be a hoax and was quickly yanked out. But not before doing some damage. CNN could have avoided the gaffe, by verifying the story with the source and cross-checking it with an Apple spokesman.
Notwithstanding the incident, citizen journalists are here to stay. It's a phenomenon that points to an empowered society, that refuses to take things sitting down. Indeed, it has transformed the meaning of democracy and press freedom. The challenge for professional journalists is to find a balance between advocating active public engagement, and preserving the sanctity of objective reporting in the service of the general public.
This new dynamics between professional and citizen journalists is still evolving, and if carried out right, could produce enormous benefits for greater public good. In cases of public corruption, citizen journalists can help expose dishonest politicians and bureaucrats. They can call attention to the government's inability to deliver basic services. Even prevent or solve crimes. They can also provide fresh and compelling first-person perspective of events, that might have been missed by the media, such as the Asian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Sichuan earthquake in China.
Leading up to the November 4 polls, I had the chance to attend a forum on new media at Northwestern University. During the discussion, I asked the panelists about their thoughts on the issue of citizen journalism.
Ben Goldberger of Huffingtonpost.com, raised an important point by citing the story of Mayhill Fowler, an Obama supporter and contributor of the website's citizen journalism section, Off The Bus. Fowler broke the controversial "they cling to guns or religion" statement, which almost derailed Obama's candidacy. "She's not a reporter in any traditional sense. She's certainly won't be taking the place of many reporters...but she did break legitimate news, and it was the sort of news that has affected the campaign cycle," Goldberger said, underscoring the value of citizen journalists to serious journalism.
Meanwhile, Peter Slevin of Washington Post and Tom Bevans of Realclearpolitics.com, said that "heavy-lifting" in journalism are still carried out by professional journalists. Vivian Vahlberg, managing director of Northwestern's Media Management Center, added that according to their studies, readers still "very much value what journalists did, far more than other sources."
While Vahlberg's findings may be reassuring, it also serves as a stark reminder that in this era of Joe the Plumbers, the professional journalists ultimately bear the responsibility of guarding the truth. In order to do that, they must possess the spirit of enterprise, inquisitiveness, hard work, and above all, the highest standard of fairness and objectivity.
The other day, I watched with concern, as the nightly news carried a story on Election 2008 everyman, Joe the Plumber, becoming a foreign correspondent in the ongoing conflict in Gaza. I became more troubled when I read online that Joe, whose real name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, wanted the media "abolished" from the war zone. "I liked back in World War I and World War II, when you'd go to the theater and you'd see your troops on the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for them," the Washington Post quoted him as saying. He went on to accuse reporters of not being "patriotic" for reporting the war.
The spectacle surrounding the Ohio native's trip to Israel, highlights the perils of citizen journalism going out of control. Instead of covering the news, Wurzelbacher became the newsmaker, advocating an overtly biased opinion of the conflict. By confusing his celebrity status with his message, he undermined the essence of serious journalism: The delivery of objective, informed and balanced news. What's most alarming is, he actually believes that he's reporting the "real story."
In today's free-for-all media environment, the role of professional journalists as gatekeepers of information has become even more critical. The dominance of 24-hour cable news and the Internet, allows information to travel the world in an instant. And the widespread use of personalized gadgets, only ensures mass transmission while spawning self-proclaimed reporters. But the responsibility to guarantee that, that information is factual and fair, fundamentally rests on the professional journalists.
Cut-throat competition and ratings game, however, caused the media establishment to put its guard down, and shrink from its sacred duty of safeguarding the accuracy of the news. The race to make it first, has compromised the need to make it right. Thus giving critics some ammunition to accuse them, of being no different from fly-by-night blogs and partisan online muggers.
Take the case of CNN. Last October 2008, it reported that Apple CEO Steve Jobs suffered a heart attack, causing a temporary drop of the company's stock price. The report was based on a posting on its innovative citizen journalist section, iReport. It turned out to be a hoax and was quickly yanked out. But not before doing some damage. CNN could have avoided the gaffe, by verifying the story with the source and cross-checking it with an Apple spokesman.
Notwithstanding the incident, citizen journalists are here to stay. It's a phenomenon that points to an empowered society, that refuses to take things sitting down. Indeed, it has transformed the meaning of democracy and press freedom. The challenge for professional journalists is to find a balance between advocating active public engagement, and preserving the sanctity of objective reporting in the service of the general public.
This new dynamics between professional and citizen journalists is still evolving, and if carried out right, could produce enormous benefits for greater public good. In cases of public corruption, citizen journalists can help expose dishonest politicians and bureaucrats. They can call attention to the government's inability to deliver basic services. Even prevent or solve crimes. They can also provide fresh and compelling first-person perspective of events, that might have been missed by the media, such as the Asian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Sichuan earthquake in China.
Leading up to the November 4 polls, I had the chance to attend a forum on new media at Northwestern University. During the discussion, I asked the panelists about their thoughts on the issue of citizen journalism.
Ben Goldberger of Huffingtonpost.com, raised an important point by citing the story of Mayhill Fowler, an Obama supporter and contributor of the website's citizen journalism section, Off The Bus. Fowler broke the controversial "they cling to guns or religion" statement, which almost derailed Obama's candidacy. "She's not a reporter in any traditional sense. She's certainly won't be taking the place of many reporters...but she did break legitimate news, and it was the sort of news that has affected the campaign cycle," Goldberger said, underscoring the value of citizen journalists to serious journalism.
Meanwhile, Peter Slevin of Washington Post and Tom Bevans of Realclearpolitics.com, said that "heavy-lifting" in journalism are still carried out by professional journalists. Vivian Vahlberg, managing director of Northwestern's Media Management Center, added that according to their studies, readers still "very much value what journalists did, far more than other sources."
While Vahlberg's findings may be reassuring, it also serves as a stark reminder that in this era of Joe the Plumbers, the professional journalists ultimately bear the responsibility of guarding the truth. In order to do that, they must possess the spirit of enterprise, inquisitiveness, hard work, and above all, the highest standard of fairness and objectivity.
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