{"id":1607,"date":"2011-01-20T17:22:25","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T22:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/000af36.netsolhost.com\/wordpress1\/2011\/01\/20\/journalism-30-years-later\/"},"modified":"2011-01-20T17:22:25","modified_gmt":"2011-01-20T22:22:25","slug":"journalism-30-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2011\/01\/20\/journalism-30-years-later\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalism, 30 Years Later"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tim McGuire, who teaches journalism ethics and on the business of journalism at Arizona State University\u2019s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, recently asked some journalists about today\u2019s business<\/a>, compared to 30 years ago. Some excerpts:<\/p>\n

\n

One big change, for sure, is that no newspaper editor could say as you did to me in the mid 1990\u2019s, \u201cThe truth is, it\u2019s not really news until we (the big, major newspaper) print it.\u201d That, of course, was before the blogosphere. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2026As a whole, newspapering is still about finding stuff out and telling everybody else, and doing it ethically and in ways that are engaging and meaningful. \u2026Newspapering is, and let\u2019s hope will always be, about bringing the truth to light. <\/p>\n

\u2013Pam Fine, University of Kansas journalism professor<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We have a far shorter time period to deliberate. Quite frankly, we sometimes are rendered moot by twitter and blogs that move at hyperspeed written by reporters that might or might not be accurate.<\/strong><\/p>\n

–Arnie Robbins, St. Louis Post Dispatch <\/em>editor<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I look at the sizes of the staffs at the papers where I worked and in some newsrooms, maybe the majority, you can hear the echoes of what used to be coming from the empty desks where journalists used to sit. And you simply cannot do more with less, and the push to do so only diminishes the quality of what gets done<\/strong>.  <\/p>\n

–Gregory Favre, Distinguished Fellow of the Poynter Institute<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Increasingly, reporters rely too much on digital communication instead of one-on-one interviews and in the process miss the opportunities for follow-up or the emotional response that can be drawn from personal contact. Sources, especially the powerful ones who are advised by public relations consultants, have figured this out, along with the fact that shrinking staffs have left some reporters time-constrained. That\u2019s allowed those sources more opportunities to try to shape the message. <\/strong>I\u2019ve even spoken with some folks who have said their newspapers publish their press releases verbatim with no calls, no checking for accuracy. <\/p>\n

The push to be first online  hasn\u2019t been totally a good thing; too many errors have been made and some of today\u2019s journalists just shrug and say that\u2019s part of today\u2019s deal, unconcerned, apparently that the false facts, once reported, may live on forever in the Internet world.  There has been a definite erosion in standards; accuracy, while still important, has given ground to immediacy. Journalists can tweet falsehoods and other will pick up the information, spreading it far and wide<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u2026In 1982, the separation between advertisers and editorial was more defined, almost absolute. Now that invisible wall is gone and while editors are still the guardians of standards, the protectors of the public\u2019s right to know, they also are now marketers and collaborators with the advertising and circulation departments. <\/strong><\/p>\n

–Rick Rodriguez, faculty of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

News organizations continue to perform the same fundamental functions \u2014 gathering, shaping <\/strong>and sharing news \u2014 but in increasingly and radically different ways. \u2013\u2014Len Downie, former editor, The Washington Post<\/em><\/p>\n

[All emphases added]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tim McGuire, who teaches journalism ethics and on the business of journalism at Arizona State University\u2019s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, recently asked some journalists about today\u2019s business, compared to 30 years ago. Some excerpts: One big change, for sure, is that no newspaper editor could say as you did to me… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[132,133,134,123,135],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}