Our
View: Journalism criticism odd phenomenon
Every once in a while, we journalists should simply stop the presses, hang up
the phone, turn off the computer and think about exactly what it is we do. Moreover,
we should think long and hard about what people think
of us.
A quick Google search will uncover that journalists are the second most-hated
profession, behind lawyers. It is funny how that works out, considering journalists
seek to find truth and it seems lawyers seek to hide it.
What is even odder is that journalists, individually, are generally respected.
Tell someone you want to be a journalist, newspaper editor or broadcast anchor
and you will often receive good, genuine and enthusiastic replies. Tell someone
you are a philosophy major and you might not receive so candid a response.
Yet journalists are hated and philosophers are not. Go figure.
Consequently, some of us journalists are then left wondering why collectively
we are despised but individually we are esteemed. Fortunately, there are a few
answers that might explain this odd phenomenon.
People not in the media do not often see the faces and feelings of the men and
women who constitute it. The exceptions are the few anchors in front of the camera
in broadcasting. This means the vast majority of hard-working people in print,
TV and radio broadcasting are unseen.
Additionally, the media are often perceived as a gigantic, collective whole,
making it easy to stereotype and generalize.
Therefore, when a person sees a real journalist face to face, the human element
of the media is revealed.
Independently, journalists must not seem as bad as their words may appear in
print or their images may look on the TV.
This point leads to the second reason: Journalists are infamous for being conniving,
misleading and selfish.
Unfortunately, there are numerous examples of journalists exemplifying such traits.
However, the majority of us are not that way, and the horrible truth is the ones
who display those faults of ethics get the most attention.
So, when a person actually meets a living, breathing journalist up-close and
discovers he or she is not the devil, respect ensues. If not, the evil stereotype
persists — as long as there is no one to prove otherwise.
Another reason for the communal negative reaction to the media results from its
very own masses-oriented nature.
When the occasional wrongs are revealed within the mass media, then its own massive
self will let the masses know. Individuals, for the most part, do not have this
same ability.
It is usually not hard to see why the media’s audience, which is basically
everybody, feels angry with its news outlets at times. Bias, the elephant in
the living room that everyone is trying to ignore but cannot, is one reason folks
are dismayed by the news. Whether that spin is liberal or conservative, it has
no place on the wall of truly objective journalism.
Does this odd phenomenon for journalistic respect reveal that people, in general,
dislike other people who handle, report or misdirect the truth?
Perhaps it does, but the age-old philosophical question what truth is still lingers
and that truth depends largely on whom you talk to.
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