CDZ What is the role of journalism in our society?

[Donald Polish]

I want to know what non-journalists think about the role of journalism and the massmedia in our society. I ask this as an average American from Atlanta.
As I see it unfortunately :
It used to be to expose the truth and keep us informed.
Now it to sell commercials and spread propaganda.

 

[hjmick]

"...it is the duty of a newspaper to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." - Gene Kelly as E. K. Hornbeck in Inherit the Wind.

I've always liked that quote...

 

[peach174]

I believe that same thing.
To expose the truth and keep us informed.
Ever since they got rid of investigative journalism, it is just about pushing their own agendas and ratings.

 

[pismoe]

its the 4th estate watching over and reporting on the other 3 estates of government !! Supposed to be , anyway .

 

[pismoe]

a little info , I was taught similar to this article in 6th - 7th grade Civics Class I think . --- What Is the Fourth Estate --- course nowadays all the lofty goals of journalism and the 4th estates seem to have been replaced . Now the '4th estate' acts more like a 'fifth column' as it spews lies , propaganda and silliness. Only saving grace and an honorable part of the Fourth Estate that still exists is probably the internet and sites like this one and others and GOOGLE or similar search engine .

 

[pismoe]

and a little more info --- What is the Fourth Estate and Fifth Column - Ask Dave Taylor ---

 

[HenryBHough]

Last Journalism class I completed in 1960 emphasized that reporting meant finding the facts and reporting them. That included investigating allegations regardless of source and finding/reporting what happened, when, and who was involved.

Facts.

Reporting.

Not adding opinon.

Not editorializing (and calling it reporting).

Accuracy and verifying sources.

Alas it seems that was a whole century ago.

 

[pismoe]

yeah Henry , I heard that the facts were known as the Who , What , Where and When . The WHY was supposed to be left up to the individual reader to decide . I think that that's what I was taught . Course , I just learned in junior high , Civics Class , but that's about it and it was a long time ago .

 

[HenryBHough]

Was taught as "Who, What, When, Where" "How" was sometimes added where the circumstances warranted. An example of that "how" illustrated below in blue:

"Former Liberaltown Mayor John Johnson died this morning at a hotel in nearby Podunk. Police reported Johnson, in Podunk for personal reasons, apparently stepped on a bar of soap as he climbed out of a Japanese style soaking tub. A preliminary coroner's report said his skull was fractured on impact with the toilet."

"None of the other occupants of the bathroom were reported by police to have been injured."

 

[Teddy Pollins]

It seems nowadays most journalists are just mouthpieces of ruling elites.
There are some good ones but the majority aren't.
Journalism seems to be dying profession. Or it will carry out only political functions in the future.

 

[pismoe]

hey , thankyou Henry !!

 

[pismoe]

lots of room for reinvigoration , internet maybe , I like radio .

 

[Delta4Embassy]

I want to know what non-journalists think about the role of journalism and the massmedia in our society. I ask this as an average American from Atlanta.
As I see it unfortunately :
It used to be to expose the truth and keep us informed.
Now it to sell commercials and spread propaganda.

Think journalism is a paralell government. We listen to what they say far more than actual government.

 

[MarcATL]

I believe that same thing.
To expose the truth and keep us informed.
Ever since they got rid of investigative journalism, it is just about pushing their own agendas and ratings.

When did that happen exactly?

 

[there4eyeM]

Journalism exists in its best form when it reports with the intention of doing so clearly. That means presenting significant events and important facts.
All journalists have a point of view. They are, after all, human. Language itself, as well, works against any concept of absolute objectivity, so that is not to be hoped for and foolish to even talk about.
When we can see the perspective of the publication and know whom it serves, we can bring our intellect to bear as filter. The major problem as it stands today is not that media are inaccurate or biased, but that readers believe without reflection. The 'role' that is important is that of objective reading.

 

[Owen]

Journalists are information war soldiers now.

 

[there4eyeM]

Journalism today functionally appears to be an extension of advertising. It implies a certain lifestyle, caters to specific levels of intelligence and intellectual capacity and presents industries, technologies, products and politics in an editorial fashion.

 

[Mac1958]

.

I was taught that a reporter's job was to tell the story of what happened as accurately, completely and objectively as possible.

Ask a journalist now what their job is, and many will tell you it's to "tell the truth".

Well, as we know, "truth" is subjective to those who have an agenda.

.

 

[Mac1958]

Last Journalism class I completed in 1960 emphasized that reporting meant finding the facts and reporting them. That included investigating allegations regardless of source and finding/reporting what happened, when, and who was involved.

Facts.

Reporting.

Not adding opinon.

Not editorializing (and calling it reporting).

Accuracy and verifying sources.

Alas it seems that was a whole century ago.

My first class in college was Journalism 101 (really). I was a journalism major.

Our first assignment was to read "All The President's Men" as a way to learn investigative journalism. Looking back, I think that book & movie may have given birth to journalist as celebrity, and bastardized the profession...

.

 

[|electric|foxy|]

Journalism is becoming less and less respectable - Northern Star Online Columnists

When people ask me what I do, I tell them I sell crack.
I tell them this not because I deal crack, but because it is much better to be thought of as a crack dealer than a journalist.
As a crack dealer, my only clients are addicts; whereas being a journalist, I have the potential to deal to millions.
Our products are inherently the same. Both crack and information change an individual's thought patterns, emotions, attitudes and decision-making processes. And in this age it is much better to deal crack than information, for the information being dealt to the public is bunk.