RSSNews business must restore credibility
Yakima Herald-Republic
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This editorial appears in the Sept. 20, 2009, Yakima Herald-Republic.
Credibility is all that matters for the news media. Lose it and you've undermined the very foundation upon which the fourth estate sits.
That's why the most recent survey by the Pew Research Center is so troubling. We are failing the public, and for the most part, the blame rests on our shoulders.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans contacted in the survey believe news stories are often inaccurate. That represents a serious erosion of trust from a similar question asked in 1985, when only 34 percent of those surveyed said stories were inaccurate.
Much of this belief is linked to what respondents had to say about the nature of the news stories -- that they tend to favor one side of an issue over another. When a news story is seen as biased, it's also regarded as inaccurate.
And bias has not slowly crept into many news organizations. It's a tidal wave. Just look at what has happened in television. Far too many self-described news shows have become simply nonstop commentaries for a particular political stripe. No wonder the Pew study revealed 72 percent of Republicans surveyed viewed Fox News Channel positively while the more liberal-leaning CNN was favored by 75 percent of Democrats.
Too many in the media, and particularly broadcasters, are picking sides.
In an essay written in 2008, Roy Peter Clark from the Poynter Institute for Media Studies argued all these attacks on the news media have resulted in what he calls "a public that has been conditioned to hate us."
The attackers include politicians trying "to kill the messenger," radio talk show hosts who are constantly attacking the credibility of the mainstream news media and what Clark refers to as the "geek news revolution" on the Internet that also delights in belittling the value of the traditional press.
Clark even sees the negative portrayals of journalists in films and in television shows as causing further erosion of the profession. Motion picture studios rarely devote films to such crusading journalists as Woodward and Bernstein in "All the President's Men." Now television shows like the popular "Law and Order" series take great delight in lumping together reporters and photographers as "slimeballs or part of the wolf pack."
Obviously, we take no comfort in this disparaging view of the role of journalists. As a group, we have clearly failed to keep the spread of commentary out of news reporting. Too often, the lines are becoming blurred.
So it's important to remind ourselves, as former managing editor Gene Foreman of the Philadelphia Inquirer did in a recent column, what elements are vital to journalism. It's not a complicated catechism of rules. There are four key ones, and they come from the book, "Elements of Journalism" by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. Here they are:
* Journalism's first obligation is to the truth.
* Its first loyalty is to citizens.
* Its essence is a discipline of verification.
* Journalists must maintain an independence from those they cover.
To many, we in the news media are not doing well with respect to these guiding principles.
While humbled by the Pew survey, its results are not the final word. We can and must improve.
Each day we must protect our credibility, and that's best accomplished through an unshakable desire to seek the truth. Only then can the honored tradition of journalism continue at this newspaper and elsewhere: Its goal of holding a mirror up to our communities and revealing the daily lives of those around us.
* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Bob Crider, Spencer Hatton and Karen Troianello.
I believe that the news mass-media, particularly newspapers, have become over-zealous to editorialize in nearly every article, instead of being satisfied to simply report the news and let people make their own interpretations.
I suppose it would be much more exciting to take positions and then interpret their own points of view, but to me, that is NOT the proper path a news reporter should take.
The reporters should remain just that - reporters. The editorial page is the proper place to put whatever people think and feel. These comment sections are a good way to, at least online, allow the public to agree or differ from the reporters or editors. They also give the management staff a good finger on the pulse of public opinion on certain issues.
In the past, there has been an ever-growing tendency for the media in ALL areas, print and vocal, to take a stand and propagandize as a matter of course. The result: Waning credibility and distrust.
I do NOT include talk radio in my context here. Radio has a choice to allow anybody it wants on the air. Nor do I believe that the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" is in any way a good thing. To me, it is the exact opposite the name implies and is calculated to silence a strong opposing viewpoint to the liberal-left tainted print media.
Competition of viewpoints on the air should remain open. Perhaps some of the popularity of the talk shows that tend to the "Conservative viewpoints" are a result of the massive propagandizing from the print and other news media for continually and predictably taking the side of the liberals. That said, if the liberals had someone to air that was worth listening too, (Sorry, Al Franken doesn't cut it), then maybe they would have a more liberal radio presence too.
The YHR is a perfect example of why the media has no credibility. On any given day, you print stories pushing for amnesty for illegal aliens, socialized health care, gun control, gay marriage, ever expanding government, and nearly every other liberal cause. Your staff is overwhelmingly liberal and it shows in your reporting. During election season, your reporting makes it very obvious which candidates you support. Your obsession with Bruce Smith (a conservative) causes your "journalists" to lose all objectivity.
In short, you're out of touch with normal Americans and you view them as ignorant, racist, bigoted, simpletons who would agree with your views if only they were more "informed". So instead of just reporting facts, you try to manipulate public opinion by selectively reporting and omitting information.
If those in the media would go back to reporting on the world instead of trying to change it things might calm down. Instead, mostly liberally-led enterprises, even our little local rag tend to use our precious free press rights as an anti-US, socialist, soapbox attacking anything that differs from their predetermined goal of Utopia.
Report ViolationNick writes:
"That said, if the liberals had someone to air that was worth listening too, (Sorry, Al Franken doesn't cut it), then maybe they would have a more liberal radio presence too."
Are you telling me that you and your fellow travelers would listen to a liberal radio talk show?
Give me a break.
Of course, Tex. I am interested in ALL sides of an argument - that is how I have decided to follow my current political beliefs - through the informed decision process, The difference between right and wrong morally, and my best ability at rational thought and logic. I'm always open for information. Many of my positions are based upon the FACTS THAT I AM AWARE OF AT THE TIME. Others, of course, like you, would be simply opinions.
Report ViolationI agree with much that has already been stated.
Perhaps we need to look at the way schools of journalism currently train the young reporters of a "daily part of our life." It would appear that today, the goal is not to produce a piece that is strictly factual, but rather espouses the writer's (or publication's) point of view.
Our society in general has become partisan to the extreme, polarizing us in nearly all aspects. Media need to be more responsible for delivering the news remembering they are the messenger, not the conductor.
GOOD, BAGLADY. CONCISE AND RIGHT ON.
Report ViolationLocal News. Well, where does it get much of its revenues, local business & all the local public entities. City, Schools, fire, Police, etc, etc.
Yakima Herald has written false stories. The Truth by Omission.
Much of the News is written for them. Local PR people. All local government. For Free your Tax Dollars.
The Names you see on most news stories. Please don't blame them for anything you read in the article. Small Fries -Small Wages. They have no control. They are there to take some blame and shelter the people @ the top. Investigative reporting is a lost Art. And the locally Media will not pay the wages for it when most of the news is handed to them for proof reading.
Nothing 100%, but its @ 80%
News business must restore credibility
Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board
This is Funny YHR...Why not start at home..
Michael Shepard, Bob Crider, Spencer Hatton and Karen Troianello you have no credibility left to lose. Quit reprinting press releases from local government and start reporting stories based on journalistic investigation. Hire an editor, spell checker and grammarian. End your liberal bias. There's a reason Fox News' audience is 2-3 times larger than CNN and MSNBC's combined audience. Contrary to popular belief, most Fox News personalities are not conservative, they are just fair journalists or TV hosts.
Report ViolationIf a story is repeated over and over, chances are its not news its Propaganda. From Fox,CNN,MSNBC, Etc, Etc.
The Boss tells you " Have I ever Lied to you" The Statement alone says yes.
Why would any Newspaper endorse any political canditate ?
Because they are Neutral ? Ok..
Couple of Simple Rules to Reach Your Goals YHR.
1. Its ok to question people in Authority Positions.
2. You can request more public documents to verify the Truth.
3. Because People are nice to you its not respect. Ever heard of keeping your enemies close.
4. Don't endorse any political canditate.
5. Write your own news instead of government handing it to you.
6. When someone acknowledges you exist and breath air. Its not an achievement.
7. Getting Clam Chowder splatted on the back of your throat is not an achievement.
8. Don't make false statements, excepting the people to buy it.
* Journalism's first obligation is to the truth.
* Its first loyalty is to citizens.
* Its essence is a discipline of verification.
* Journalists must maintain an independence from those they cover.
I want to tell you why I let my nearly 40-year subscription lapse. Increasingly, as I sat down with coffee and newspaper at 5:30 each morning, my comment to my husband was, "Is that all there is?" I tell you this because the newspaper has always been my source for news-- I loved the "experience" of sitting with a real newspaper in my hand absorbing the news cover to cover.
I understand the need to adjust to economic demands and focus more regionally to attract a broader market. However, I preferred my Yakima Herald-Republic to have more "Yakima" news written by good Yakima writers who know our community well enough to cut through the hyperbole.
I agree with those who said it is not the newspapers place to endorse a candidate. Your role is to give us the facts and hope we're wise enough to make our own decisions.
I agree with all these posts, There are no " Reporters " anymore only " Repeaters " Most just regurgitate something from a fax machine, teleprompter. The truth is what your readers want, Yes we at this house do subscride still, But grandma likes her coupons! After that it's litterbox fodder.
The answer to that delima is in these posts!
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