Vol. 4, No. 831W
Some 'Post'ed Advice for Today's Journalists
Allan R. Andrews
American Reporter Correspondent
Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON -- Working journalists don't have to be reminded
that their
profession is in a funk.
At almost every turn, someone reminds us that readers' respect
for the
media hovers at a low-point and that the credibility of journalists
has
disappeared in a wave of celebrity and "gotcha" sensationalism
seasoned
with online gossip.
Professional organizations take up the call. The American Society
of
Newspaper Editors (ASNE) devoted almost every session of its annual
convention this year to the topic of credibility, most of it expressed
in clarion cries for editors, publishers, owners and reporters
to do
something to improve the profession's reliability and integrity.
The Organization of News Ombudsmen, a small but influential group
of
media critics, blasted newspapers during their annual meeting
last
month.
According to a report in Editor & Publisher, the former president
of
CBS News, Van Gordon Sauter, charged that newspapers' biases on
social
issues has caused "many consumers to conclude that journalists
have a
private agenda."
Sauter's blast proved but one of several slams that exploded from
the
ombudsmen's gathering.
Somehow, though, the call from gatherings of aging editors,
publishers
and other managers, many of them past supporters of the practices
(pack
journalism, unnamed sources, budget cuts for investigative teams)
that
have given journalists an untrustworthy reputation, don't have
the
appeal and effect needed to reform the field. Too many are recent
converts.
Tucked away in the words of working pros, however, are tidbits
of
advice every journalist should heed. I cite some local examples.
In the week that ended the month of May and began the month of
June,
two popular columnists at the Washington Post finished their
assignments.
Geneva Overholser, the Post's ombudsman, wrote her final column
as
insider critic on May 31. She is changing jobs at the newspaper.
In that final column, Overholser offered advice to today's journalists.
Here's a quick summary of her thinking:
- "Don't ever think you've outgrown the basics." Keep
news and opinion
separate; be fair, balanced, accurate and comprehensive; attribute
all
quotes.
- "Behave as a citizen and a journalist. Report, write and
edit as if
you care about where you live."
- "Avoid framing everything as conflict, letting 'wedge'
issues drive
the report." Place substance before process. Don't dwell
on
pathologies.
- "Remember that your are not the point of this enterprise;
the readers
are." Be open to criticism. Don't pronounce on television
about things
you report on. Avoid being a celebrity seeker. Respond to unhappiness.
Let readers know why you report about pain.
- "Think hard about what makes for really good newspapering,
and
discuss it."
Although she doesn't say it outright, Overholser appears
to believe
that too few newspapers in contemporary America operate as if
they have
"a heart and a soul." She'd like to see that change,
and I think she'd
extend that thinking to say too few journalists operate as if
they are
part of the humanity they cover.
I think the most important point she makes involves our remembering
that we are citizens as well as journalists.
Recent fiascoes at The New Republic involving a phony story about
computer hacking, and at The New York Times concerning an overplayed
story about a cure for cancer suggest that journalists today may
be
operating too often with an "eye on the prize" that
excuses dishonesty
and ego-enhancement. Citizen-journalists don't behave that way.
The other Post columnist who wrote his last column (published
June 5)
was renowned sports writer Shirley Povich, who died on June 4
at the
age of 92.
As was proper, The Washington Post devoted several pages of tribute
to
its long-time writer.
Among all the tributes to Povich that were filed, the one that
stood
out for me came from the pen of Tony Kornheiser, the Post columnist
often noted for his acerbic wit.
Kornheiser wrote: "I have been blessed in my career
to have worked
alongside the two finest sports columnists of all time, Red Smith
and
Shirley Povich. I worked with Red at the New York Times, and with
Shirley at The Post. They were elegant writers and urbane men,
impeccably dressed and unfailingly polite. Gentlemen and scholars.
Their skills with words and logic were so sharp that when they
took you
apart in print, you never felt the blade, you only saw the blood."
Consider what impressed Kornheiser about Smith and Povich: Elegant
writers, urbane men, impeccably dressed, unfailingly polite, gentlemen,
scholars, skilled with words and logic.
That list hints at contemporary journalism's failings.
Overholser and Kornheiser have uncovered -- perhaps unwittingly
-- the
roots of journalism's problems with credibility.
Good, credible, honest and caring journalism begins with good,
credible, honest and caring journalists.
Allan R. Andrews is an executive news
editor and freelance writer in
Washington, DC. He can be contacted at allan.andrews@reporters.net
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