Journalism has its share of myths, too
By Charlie Mitchell
VICKSBURG
Young people don't get a mixed message about journalism careers, they get one message: Choose something else.
I think that's wrong (no surprise), so today's column will be a commercial.
My effort may do little to counter the relentless anti-press messages spewed by talk radio, by beleagured politicians and in scripts for many TV shows and movies - but I feel compelled to try.
We'll do it in the form of myths:
• Reporters are liberals.
To a certain degree that's true. The job requires a certain degree of idealism - of belief there may be a better way, a willingness to entertain ideas. From their first days on the job, reporters see life up close. They are prone to ask, "Does it have to be this way?" If that defines liberalism, then reporters are going to tend to be liberal.
For the record, Kerry had the edge, but almost as many newspapers endorsed Bush in the presidential election.
• Reporters are secular, even anti-religion.
That's absolutely not true. What has struck me most profoundly whenever I've been in a room full of reporters, editors, newspaper owners and such is the diversity. Some have never darkened the door of a church. Some are deacons. I know several who have put down their notebooks, picked up their Bibles and headed off to seminary. I know others who have become burned-out drunks. No generalization about faith fits journalists any more than one would fit chicken-pickers, truck drivers or insurance agents.
• The press tells only part of the story.
In isolation, that's true. After a 10-hour hearing, a reporter may write a 10-inch story. Lots is left out - but we try to get the gist. Almost all stories follow other stories on the same subject, with more stories to come. People who read enough of them will get an accurate summation.
• The press gets nothing right.
This is one of my favorites because it takes only a few minutes of listening to critics, including talking heads on radio and TV, to realize that stories with which they agree were reported accurately and stories with which they disagree were slanted or designed to mislead. These folks spend 50 cents on a newspaper and, in turn, make a living spouting off their interpretations. Similarly, politicians who find themselves rising in popularity credit their own wisdom. Politicians in a crunch blame the press for failing to convey their message appropriately. It's kind of like blaming a bell for ringing when someone pulls the rope.
Reporters do miss stories, do get incorrect information and some stories are overplayed while others are underplayed. That's not significantly different from the experience in any other occupation - except that our misjudgments are very public.
•
Reporters run in packs, are aggressive, intrusive and rude.
The Washington press corps is to blame for this image. About a hundredth of a percent of all reporters are in D.C., but scriptwriters use them as their model in writing for television and movies. Reporters are stock characters, plot devices - gangly malcontents that are obstacles for the "good guys" to overcome. The reality of journalism is nothing like that. We almost always deal with sources one-on-one. In this state of nearly 3 million people, six to 10 reporters provide 95 percent of legislative coverage.
• Journalism, especially print journalism, is dying as a business because it can't compete with broadcasts and the Internet.
Actually, community newspapers are growing stronger. They are not in competition with cable and satellite TV because they offer localized news and information far more relevant to their readers, and not available from those sources.
Advertisers are drawn to local newspapers because audiences are being fractured into ever-smaller pieces by the explosion of media options.
• Journalists are underpaid.
Yes, and what else is new. Teachers are underpaid. Nurses are underpaid. There are few career options that blend high compensation with intrinsic, personal rewards.
The big picture is that it breaks my heart to know that many young people who would make great journalists won't even think about trying it because of erroneous harangues about what a disreputable way it is to make a living.
I don't mind saying it because Thomas Jefferson said it first: Communication - an informed public - is not optional in a democracy. If people don't know what's going on, freedom is an illusion.
Good reporters are not scum. They are communicators. We need more.
Charlie Mitchell is managing editor of The Vicksburg Post, P.O. Box 821668, Vicksburg, MS 39182. E-mail, post@vicksburg.com.
© 2005 The Sun Herald and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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