Wednesday, March 7, 2012

When Journalism Becomes the News

Yes, it's been an entire month since my last post. Shame on me. All the 'experts' say blogs lose their oomph if you don't write a zillion times every day. I don't even have a good excuse. It's not that there haven't been stories to write about, or that I've been too busy. Neither is true. Maybe that's the problem.


Should I have written about the depressing layoffs of reporters at local newspapers? Or the tragic loss of Marie Colvin, an enormously courageous reporter killed recently while doing her job in Syria? Or the despicable practices at Murdoch's News Corp monster? Even the arrogance of a radio host who thought he could say anything he wanted on the air about women (and is happily now learning he can't as advertisers cancel their contracts)? Or how about the rise in video departments at traditional print papers?

I could have commented on each story, on how each reveals another change in the news landscape. Sigh. Or that each shows just how complex and dynamic this business is. Not really news either; after all, media moguls and economic challenges have always made it tough for the good folks committed to truth-telling, even if it's costly.


So I think I'll just settle for this: journalism is too often mistaken for either profits or entertainment, when it's neither. And truth keeps getting harder to find in the mess of basic hubris and constant information. With so many fancy gadgets in our reporting bag, you'd think it'd be clear as light. But these days, it takes a long time to get past the blur of news about news to get at the news we need. 

All that to say, it might be a while again before I post something. I'll try to do better, though, in hopes that others might as well.

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