Another Brick in The Wall

Another Brick in The Wall

I like the fact that, as a journalist, my first loyalty is to the citizen. I intend to write with this principle always before me and see myself as a seeker of truth.

Call me an idealist, but I like the idea of a "wall" between the journalists and the guys in marketing.

Back at the Standard-Examiner, we were on separate floors. At first, I thought "Why do that when so many people like the idea of one-levelers these days?" Now I realize that this separation is as it should be. We never had any problems with advertisers at the Standard-Examiner, so I never thought of all the problems that could arise, the possible conflicts between business interests and journalists' ethics.

Now, to go over the requirements discussed in class:

1. The owner must be committed to the citizen first. I would hope I could work for someone like this, that my boss was an ethical sort of person who's not just in it for the money--such people really scare me. Besides, if you put your audience first, your product will be better quality and sell well, so you needn't rely as much on advertising revenue.

2. Hire business managers who also put citizens first. This seems tricky, but it can be done. My father did it when he ran his radio station. He organized the news and weather casts, the sportscasting and commentary, the program of what oldies songs KSOS would play. He also ran the financial side, negotiating with advertisers, writing and recording the radio commercials, and handling the accounting and other financial procedures. He did so ethically, never putting his own interests above those of listeners. It is therefore possible to find good, ethical business managers.

3.Set and communicate clear standards with the company. This goes for the journalists having set clear standards for the business manager to follow, but it can also be applied to the company you sell advertising to. Let them know up front that they have no influence on your integrity. If you explain to them that their product will sell better if they buy advertising in a paper the public knows to be credible, they will understand. If they pull funding because you caught them doing something bad, then the public will still buy your newspaper because they'll want to read about it!

4.Journalists have final say over the news. Yes! This is a newspaper (or newscast), not a business paper (or cast)! Journalists, the people who write the news, should have a final say over its content, and the businesspeople need to realize that we won't make money anyway if the product sucks or the public knows they can't trust us.

5.Communicate clear standards to the public. It's nice to know what you can expect from people, especially in these uncertain, and as a citizen who reads newspapers I would like to know what I may reasonably expect. I liked how, in Citizen Kane, which I watched as a part of this class and fell completely in love with, Kane writes a declaration of Principles, which can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oav-tDznRq0

So those are my thoughts on the balance between business and journalism--also I would like to point out that this same post is on Michelle Paulsen's blog because she is my roomie and I somehow posted it to hers first--Weird sauce!