Journalists amaze me. I have a huge respect for those who have paid their dues reporting on tiny events for small papers and climbed the ladder by dint of hard work. Real journalists have an innate story sense and know their ethics. And like all good writers, they digest a world that would otherwise overwhelm its participants.
I love the long hours of hard work the news media machine requires of its moving parts. But that machine ain’t working so well lately.
Judging by the success of free dailies aimed at busy commuters – full of tiny story snippets plucked from elsewhere in the media food chain – and the soon-to-implode, media gorging Canwest empire, plus the ever-increasing demand for free-and-better content on the web, our media is entering a Wild West-like transition period, the results of which aren’t easy to see just yet.
Yes, media is becoming more accessible, but is what we are accessing going to be worth the html it’s written on in 10 years? (My apologies to anyone who actually understands what I imagine to be the mysterious underworld of web design.) I’m always a little concerned when content takes a backseat to format, whether it’s in news media or film and television. And right now, format is in the driver’s seat. Shallow stories are being diluted across multiple papers and new media frontiers (online readers, podcasts, YouTube, Twitter).
If it’s true that the Aspers’ Frankenstein is now an asthmatic, bloated tourist who’s fallen off the cruise ship into shark-infested waters, then I’ll bet there are more than a few “citizen journalists” salivating at the prospect of filling the vacuum with their “eye witness” cell phone cam reports of restaurant owners being rude to customers, or poorly-managed grass on public property. (I forget where I heard it, but someone recently described “citizen journalism” as “citizen dentistry.” True that.)
Reporting on the day’s events, as well as going beyond them to look for some semblance of a through line, is best left to the pros. Engaged citizenry is great, but it’s not real journalism and shouldn’t parade as such. We need real writers to do be able to do their work. And for that to happen, we need healthy, forward-thinking publishers and broadcasters to respond to the changing media scene and assume an active role in shaping it – rather than passively taking jabs to the face like some punch-drunk boxer.
I can only hope that Canwest’s troubles will result in a much more vibrant journalism scene, one where media companies don’t subscribe to the belief that newspapers and television stations are like real estate investments. There’s far too much at stake.
