Folks, I don't know about you, but I can barely look at a purported newscast or pick up a newspaper these days without gagging. Maybe it's my age. Maybe I'm a frustrated old curmudgeon who doesn't like "progress."
I'm certainly glad that my daughter and others like her are in journalism school (and hopefully learning it the right way). I could drone on about "advocacy journalism" all day, but there is nothing like seeing it in action! Just turn on your tv or pick up a newspaper. Actually, I should qualify my remark by saying that TELEVISION is far and away the most blood-boiling of all news sources. Several stations are filled with people almost literally going hand-to-hand in their advocacy, calling people names and generalizing all over the place. Not only are they often wrong, but they rarely admit their mistakes, such is their desire to "change the world."
It's embarrassing.
Here I go again. In my more-than-30-year career, I had mentors like Prof. Walt Brovald at the University of Minnesota and Master Sergeant Perez, my instructor at Defense Information School in the U.S. Army. They taught my the only way --- and the best way --- to conduct journalism as a career. It's no secret; it's called being objective and fair. I'm sure I failed here and there, but nothing like the direct opinion journalism that is practiced in many newsrooms. Hence, the death of the media is at hand.
But my daughter's generation will try to stop the bleeding to return this wonderful profession to its deserved standing. I believe they can do it, with the outstanding professors that she and others have at the University of Minnesota. People voting with their feet are the proof: people want the facts, ma'am, and only the facts, from the 25-cent newspaper they get every day (or is it 50 cents?). If they don't trust the news, they won't buy the newspaper.
I realize the newspaper in each and every community in America tends to be run down by the populous. That's the way it goes, it seems. But you just keep plugging to earn the respect of the people, and if you handle tough jobs well, you eventually win them over. But not by being less than objective about the news that affects the folks. It's not that difficult. You see the news, you report it. If you want to opine, get a job on the editorial page.
Every day, it seems, the national media is challenged to fairly report the news. It's become a sad little affair that reveals itself everytime news is made, such as the tragic shooting in Tucson. The collective unprofessionalism has become sort of staggering to old-timers like me who learned only one way to publish a newspaper. It's up to the youth of today to correct what has become a national tragedy in itself.
