There I go, day after day, with my negative criticisms of the news business. Rarely do I see, no less expound on the bright side. So it is with some surprise and some pleasure that I report on a luncheon discussion today sponsored by the Albuquerque Press Women.
The subject was "ethics." The panelists included Bob Gassaway, who teaches journalism at UNM; Phill Casaus, editor of the Albuquerque Tribune, and
Belinda Rawlins, manager of the Media Literacy Project.
Gassaway spoke first, delivering some down-to-earth commentary on ethics in the newsroom. Given deadline pressures, he noted, ethical problems may not be identified. Further, reporters are likely to handle the problems themselves, when it might make sense to get help from their editors. Also, ethical problems can be difficult to describe accurately. And it is easy to push them aside as unimportant when they aren’t.
Gassaway identified a "staus quo" temptation – saying, because it’s easy, "We’ve always done it this way" rather than rethinking the issue or situation each time.
Impressive. He gave us the nitty-gritty simply and without pretension.
Phil Casaus made me sit up and take notice, however, when he said journalism has higher standards of ethics today than "years ago." That, he suggested, is because there’s more attention paid today. What happens inside the newsroom no longer stays there. And there are all kinds of critics outside.
On reflection, I think he’s quite right. (Though, we must keep in mind that journalistic ethics is one subject and media responsibility another.)
Phil also suggested that writing and reporter are better – by which I think he meant of higher quality – than 20 years ago.
Hmmm. I don’t know. I have been impressed with a lot of the current Web-influenced reporting. Yet I think most tough reporting on Iraq came from the monthlies and books, not daily newspapers.
And while there is a lot of dynamite writing going on at the N.Y. Times, Washington Post and other major dailies, I see awful stuff daily – poor usage, poor spelling, poor choice of words and gobs of ignorance.
Credit Casaus, however, with accentuating the positive. I enjoyed looking up at the sky after all this staring into the gutter.
Belinda Rawlins, manager of the New Mexico Media Literacy Project, then offered a concise presentation dealing with the news media and new technology, corporate power in the age of deregulation, as well as the current political threat to the (relative) independence of public broadcasting.
The question-and-answer period was lively, touching on Watergate, Iraq and the fallout from the Valerie Flame affair
.
I came away reminded that my view of the news business is not necessarily 20-20. And that I must express my dissatisfaction vigorously, but stop well short of scapegoating. (Too bad the political right won't follow suit.)
Oh, and also I was reminded (I knew this) that women are superior. This luncheon was, after all, sponsored and organized by the Albuquerque Press Women. Not the men.