The J-Word
By Alan Nero
Journalism has become a dirty word in the Western canon. Journalists consistently face scrutiny, animosity, and suspicion from readers and critics alike.
The current administration carries a portion of the blame after popularizing the phrase “fake news” and attempting to destabilize public trust in the fourth estate. But, the greatest weight of responsibility rests on the shoulders of established news organizations that have repeatedly been found guilty of moral compromise, plagiarism, inaccuracy, and corporate and political bias. This trend developed as news organizations were acquired by private citizens and corporations alike with profit-driven aims that steam-rolled the ethical obligations of the press.
In his 2005 article, The Problem of the Media, Robert McChesney addresses this very issue. He discusses how the failings of the press began over a century ago. While privatizing the news industry originally prevented government manipulation of the free media, it also made news organizations vulnerable to the economic interests of their owners.
As companies identified their niches, ratings and sales figures increasingly dictated the stories that organizations would cover, the emphasis of importance on certain stories over others, and the angles with which they reported. Over the last century, these practices mutated into sensationalism, overt bias, and journalistic neglect to report on events inconvenient to the owners or their political affiliates. Networks such as Fox News, or CNN pander to the political interests of their audiences and, in some cases, to the interests of public officials with ties to media corporations.
As corporate interests and government corruption have infected mainstream media, it’s no wonder that public faith in journalism has fallen to such low regard. In their latest Gallup Poll, the Knight Foundation found that over 42% of U.S. adults, across all political affiliations, have lost faith in news media for these very failings, and these errors will continue so long as the actions of major news media are determined by quarterly gains.
The only means by which we can save the reputation of news media is to free it from the corporate shackles major news networks have resigned themselves to. As McChesney writes:
“A commitment to anything remotely resembling bona fide democracy requires a vastly superior journalism, and we can only realistically expect such journalism if sweeping changes in media policies and structures make it a rational expectation.”
A call has been sounded for journalists to reject the current media structures and develop new, reputable organizations focused on accuracy and transparency once more. In response, dozens of independent news networks have emerged to combat the overt commercialism of larger media conglomerates. Publications such as Propublica, De Correspondent, and Reuters derive their funding from individual subscribers, independent grants, and non-profit trusts in order to maintain their freedom from corporate and political interests.
As new methods of independent funding continue to be discovered, the lost freedom of the press is slowly being recovered. While we may currently struggle to press on amidst a grim landscape of corruption, hope is on the horizon.
