Issues in Journalism

My interest in journalism doesn’t go beyond that of a consumer of news. So when I speak as a consumer of news I simple want to say that I want to get news as easily and cheaply as possible. The issues of a professional journalism world is no one’s fault but it’s own and they shouldn’t be surprised at what’s happening when the world is constantly thinking of better and faster means of communication that people aren’t interested in a piece of paper but rather look at their screens (the internet).

McChesney in his book and in the video for PBS tells a story of how professional journalism created a need for less news and because of this everything is tied up into a couple of big pockets that are wearing thin with holes. Just like the automobile industry, I’m waiting for the government to step in and say, “This industry is too big to fail.” It may not happen in this decade (2010-2019). But I do see a stronger tie to the government for a lot more industries and not just the automobile in the later future.

What I don’t understand, is this poo pooing of the Interest. I may have just been under the influence of this program for too long, but I think the internet offers a challenge to those big pockets by creating thousands of little pockets that they have to contend with in a way they never have before. At this moment in time, the Internet is about the individual.  When I get online I click open my browser of choice and go to my personal homepage that I’ve set up. Then if I want to move from page to page whether it is my email, Blackboard, or Livejournal; all of this is done using favorite tabs. I don’t deviate because I don’t have to. This creates a problem for commercial companies that I’m not particularly in a hurry to fix because it would mean looking at more advertising then I already do.

“The internet is not the answer.” Or course it’s not for professional journalism. Professional journalism survives on a few loud slightly biased voices in order to be maintained. On the Internet loud voices can easily be squashed by the groundswell with a resounding “fuck you!” I think the Internet brings with it individualism and a journalism similar to the nineteenth century when everyone had a voice and some kind of representation in order to go to. I can visit Racialicious and Jezebel and get two similar yet different aspects on John Meyer’s Playboy article that features back handed racism and homophobia. The similarity being that John Meyer had verbal diarrhea but while Racialicious will look at the racial stereotypes John Meyer and Playboy are upholding, Jezebel will look at the stereotypes of women and people in general.

Blogs are becoming more “professional”. By professional I mean that bloggers are fact checking and interviewing. These professional bloggers while they have the luxury of focusing on a particular aspect of news, they can investigate the same way professional journalists do. It’s also important to point out that a large percentage of professional bloggers have some kind of writing background which tends to help.

Professional Journalism will figure something out whether it’s through internet pay models, government subsidies, or something else. I hardly think journalism will die out which is a picture that McChesney may like to paint in order to get people to buy his book.