Leonard Witt - Jun 6, 2003 3:06 pm (#17
Total: 22)
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Objectivity at a Crossroads?
Media convergence. It happened right here for me. First there was Buzz
Merritt’s post about making presentations to foreign journalists. He said
he in part:
In most places, the notions of democracy do not include a requirement
for bipartisanship or multipartisanship on the part of journalists. In
contrast to most cities in the United States, most substantial foreign
cities have several newspapers and very partisan broadcast outlets, thus
multiple voices are assured. In that sense, their vision of how democracy
works is probably more realistic than ours.
Then came Chithra KarunaKaran, who might be a citizen-journalist,
saying, “In the US, democracy is in decline…the American people are in
dire need of a media that is not hellbent on infotainment….” It needs a
media “that will inform the American people accurately and consistently.”
KarunaKaran was saying fix your own problems before going out to help
the rest of the world. Recently I was at a gathering of foreign nationals
who work for our government in their native countries. Basically they
interpret their own press for the American officials. These are, of
course, well read people, who because they work for the US government,
could not be thought of as radicals. However, they were as critical of the
American press as KarunaKaran is. One Pakistani said The Washington Post
and New York Times were seen as mouthpieces of the American government.
None of the approximately 24 other foreign nationals from as many
different countries disagreed with him.
Then came Griff Wigley writing about Micro-journalism or
citizen-journalism. As the large media organizations in this country
consolidate will there be a backlash, a reaction of many smaller voices,
but more partisan voices.
Fox News was a reaction to the Clinton years. The conservatives saw the
media as a mouthpiece for the liberals. Now the liberals see the media as
an uncritical mouthpiece for the conservatives. Will a liberal equivalent
of Fox emerge? Will a partisan, multi-voice media usurp objectivity? Are
we at a crossroads where media objectivity is about to be swept from its
pedestal here in the US? And if so, what are the consequences? And
finally, if we are at a turning point, what role will public journalism
scholars and professionals play as change unfolds?
Chithra KarunaKaran EdD
City University of New York(CUNY)
&
Contributing Editor
Focus on the UN Series
http://www.calicutnet.com
New York, NY, USA
&
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Reply to:
ChithraKarunaKaran<perceiver00@calicutnet.com>
From PJNet:
Davis "Buzz" Merritt wrote an
excellent piece of cautionary advice for US journalists and scholars who
are planning on making global public journalism presentations. Actually,
it is important reading for anyone interested in public journalism.
For example, he writes:
Unlike any living U.S. journalist, the
professionals in emerging democracies such as former Soviet Union
countries, the Mideast and much of Latin America have been a part of the
fight for freedom. They understand, far better and more intimately than
many U.S. journalists, the connection between journalism and democracy and
appreciate it because they have tried to do their jobs without freedom.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Calicutnet's Response:
US Media needs to Inform, Educate its Own People
In the US, democracy is in decline, it
has invaded a sovereign state, media ownership is being concentrated by
the US govt's own FCC, immigrant rights are being trampled upon, millions
of its citizens lack adequate health care, women have virtually no
political role, the domestic economy is in deep debt and disarray.
The American people are in dire need
of a media that is not hellbent on infotainment, that will circumvent the
lies and corporate greed of the Bush White House, that will inform the
American people accurately and consistently so that the majority are not
misled by their government into thinking Iraq was responsible for 9/11.
The US press failed to deliver the facts to the American people, it failed
to deflect and reveal the US Goverment propaganda blitz before it invaded
Iraq.
The US has plenty of problems of its
own and creates problems virtually everywhere it goes. It should quit
meddling. It has defeated democracy throughout the Middle East by arming
Israel, propping up repressive monarchic and dictatorial regimes to ensure
an unending supply of oil to its SUVs, sold anthrax to Saddam in his war
against Iran and the Kurds, worked closely with bin Laden, paid and
trained the Taliban, rejected the Kyoto Protocol -- clearly I could go
on!
What price US unilateralism and US
dominance? Too high, so enough already.
The first role of civil society
journalism is to inform and educate your own people.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Contributing Editor
Focus on the UN Series
http://www.calicutnet.com
<perceiver00@calicutnet.com>
