Chapter 1 - What is a journalist??!!

Chapter 1 – What is a Journalist?
Until recently the stereotypical view of a journalist was:
-Male
-Hard-living
-Hard-drinking
-Larrikin type
-Fingers stained by nicotine and typewriter ink
-Pencil stuck behind one ear
-There is no longer a typical journalist or a definition of what their job is.

Why Define?
-Journalists need a definition to know is they are doing their job appropriately or acing ethically.
-Technological innovation means that journalists need to be constantly adapting their skills for fear that they will become outdated
-Public needs to care about the journalist otherwise news consumers may not be able to recognize or distinguish between good, bad or no news.
-In defining a journalist there are two approaches

1. Either failing to progress beyond the doing
2. Addressing elements of news practice in such theoretical terms that it is difficult to relate to practice.

Hartley [1995] describes journalism as the ‘sense making practice of modernity’ proposing that journalists go out into the ‘external real world… find out what’s going on… do empirical investigation… then try and report as truthfully and as objectively as you can’.

The MEAA [1999] sates: “Journalists describe society to itself. They convey information, ideas and opinions. They search disclose, record, questions, entertain, comment and remember. They inform citizens and animate democracy. They give practical form to freedom of expression. They scrutinize power, but also exercise it, and should be responsible and accountable.”

Who Are Journalists Responsible to?
-Employers [60% surveyed for Definition: Journalist selected this option]
-Public/community – 20%
-Audience – 15%
-More than 90% believed they should be responsible to the public or community then to themselves and next to their audiences.
-Walsh suggests that there is ‘not a lot of conflict’ between responsibility to the public and to the employer, although this may depend on the publication and its definition of audience.
-The public service nature and function of public broadcasters is more explicitly understood. As a result this type of journalist is less likely to find a gap between their responsibility to their employer and the public.

Skill and Attributes.
-Communication
-Questioning, curious and inquisitive mind
-Writing abilities
-News sense
-Knowledge of computers
-Listening skills
-General knowledge
-Empathy, patience, understanding
-A sense of working for more than self
-Language skills
-Interviewing skills
-Ability to meet deadline
-Thinking analysis skills
-Resourcefully/persistence
-Truthfulness/accuracy/integrity.
-Richardson [1998] a ‘hunger to get information, a hunger to find out the truth to always get more’.

Pressures.
-Commercialisation of news: dial-a-quote, spokespersons that are used because they quickly deliver a promising sound bite on the topic of the day.
-Journalists struggle with falling audiences for their news.
-A combination of trends threatens future of journalism.

Technology.
-Richardson [1998] technology has changed hugely altering the practice of journalism.
technology has introduced a new layer of tools
-Regional Print newsrooms – technology has: Reduced the layers of filters between gathering and writing of news.
-Increasing computerisation and digitisation of news systems have brought forward deadlines, reducing the margin for late breaking stories.
-As to broadcast journalism – satellite phones, laptops, the internet and digital audio recorders and camera allow instantaneous field-to newsroom contact from most parts of the world.
-The Internet provides worldwide publications, information and communication.

Challenges.
-Generalist vs. Specialist.
-Today’s average newspaper appeals to a ‘confederation of different constituencies” (Walsh, 1998) rather than a single audience.

Conclusion
-Ultimately the essence that distinguished journalists from other information brokers might be the commitment to the public good.
-Needs to be balances with truthfulness, accuracy, and personal and professional integrity, and a realistic appreciation of the current dependence of journalists on the news organisations bottom line.