I don't agree with "Journalism Is Broken," the title of recent opinion piece at .:c-lo.net:.
Instead, journalism is coming out of its strait-jacket. I know all about that, having grown up (til age 18) in a small town in northern Canada, where there were monopoly-level news sources:
- tv: a CBC affiliate,which meant the major news came from the CBC in Toronto. Two weeks late, because the reels of film had to be shipped by truck.
- radio: a CBC affiliate. At least the radio news were timely, if single-sourced.
- newspaper: a locally-printed, non-locally-owned weekly paper that still looks dreadful and reads nearly as bad today in 2006.
Today, I barely listen to the radio news or watch them on tv. I can't bare to hear deep-voiced news anchors telling me 1/3 of the story hours late. I've already read all kind of details on the Internet. The strait-jacket has been removed.
Journalism is not broken. It is inhabited by too many who think what they're doing is the norm. They're not thinking in terms of, "How can I do it better? How can I do it differently?"
Still, I do like these bullet points made by .:c-lo.net:.
* Objectivity is a load of bull. Transparency and honesty are not.
* Don’t act like opinions don’t exist. People need opinions.
* Redefine the concept of authority.
I like them, because I've been employing those concepts (and others) since accidentally becoming a journalist in 1985.
Journalism isn't broken. It just needs more people thinking every day, "How can I do it better? How can I do it differently?"
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