Journalists don’t pitch, catch, bat or judge
Chief Justice nominee John Roberts recently equated a judge’s role to that of the umpire at a baseball game: not to pitch, catch or bat the ball, and not even to make the rules --- but to interpret the rules. It’s an interesting distinction.
Similarly, it’s important for those of us in journalism to understand our role --- and far too many don’t! Our job is not to pitch, catch or bat in the ballgame of civic life. Too many journalists fall into the mistaken belief that they are part of the local power structure, or that their job is to sit in judgment.
Actually, ours is a higher calling. We serve through journalism --- and good journalism can’t be a part of any power structure. Good journalism is humble. It helps a community make informed decisions. But it shouldn't attempt to influence outcomes except by providing trustworthy information, even-handed reporting, and fair-minded facilitation of the community's forum for discussion.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author, journalist and media critic Ben Bagdikian (who also served two terms as a trustee of Independent’s non-profit holding company) had this to say: "Letting a maximum number of views be heard regularly is not just a nice philosophical notion. It is the best way any society has yet discovered to detect maladjustments quickly, to correct injustices, and to discover new ways to meet our continuing stream of novel problems that rise in a changing environment."
That’s a need we’re filling with our newspapers, with newszap.com, and with the Public Issues forums we’re providing to our communities at newszap.com. But we can’t play that role unless we do it with a full commitment to purposeful neutrality. The national media is abandoning even the pretense of neutrality, apparently as part of their marketing and profit strategies. I fear this is a huge mistake.
Journalists should not be participants in the news we cover. But try telling that to the network celebrity newsreaders.
Our job should be to facilitate the public’s discussion of public issues, not to dominate the discussion. But try telling that to power-seeking publishers, columnists and editorial boards.
At Independent, we’re trying to prove the merits of keeping journalism pure, independent, humble and neutral. And by doing this successfully even in smaller communities (where the pressures to take sides can be most pervasive), it can be a sterling example indeed.
Pure, independent, humble and neutral journalism requires restraint and ego control, but it’s important, exciting and rewarding.
Without journalism, decisions are made in the darkness of ignorance or manipulation instead of the enlightenment of objective knowledge and consideration of opposing viewpoints. Without journalism, a community’s "social relationships" can be nasty, with little chance of progressing to mutual caring, shared ideals and cooperation.
Journalism can be the conduit that allows people to talk to one another, share their dreams and concerns, develop a sense of caring and a sense of community, celebrate successes and discuss what's wrong and what might be done to make things better. (But if the community’s newspaper or website takes side or dominates the debate, it can’t be trusted as the conduit.)
Some of what we do can seem pretty mundane, like simply letting people know about the routines of community activities: who's meeting when and where, about what, and where goods can be purchased and services obtained. Some of it can be inspiring, like encouraging readers to discuss who's doing wonderful things in the community. Some of it can be heart-breaking --- who's suffering, who's hungry, who's lonely, who's dying. Some of it can be pretty frustrating: when communities pull apart instead of together, when people shout at one another without listening, when some battles are won with power instead of logic, selfishly instead of with mutual respect and a sense of fair play.
But all of what we do is vital to the community --- the mundane, the heart-breaking and the frustrating. It's part of the ongoing process that allows communities to form, to become worthwhile and even to aspire to greatness.
The best journalists are those that see themselves as humble servants of the evolving community and as purposeful facilitators of an ongoing political process --- not as part of the current community leadership, and not as power players in the politics of the moment.
