20
May
2003
I had another interesting experience thanks to Deb Buttleman-Malcolm, the energetic, creative journalism teacher at Davenport Central High School. Over the years, Deb has partnered with the Reader on behalf of her students in an effort to expose them to real-world journalism issues, perspectives, and practices. I believe those of us who have had the privilege of participating in Deb's programs gain as much, if not more, from the experiences as the students do.
This week, four of Deb's journalism students entered a contest hosted by Dow Jones. The parameters of the competition included engaging a speaker on the subject of journalism who must deliver a talk for at least 30 minutes and allow for questions at the end, after which the students were required to recap it in a 250-word report to be submitted shortly after the event. To my delight, I was chosen to talk to the kids on this subject so near and dear to my heart. Naturally I exceeded the 30 minutes by another 30 with barely a pause.
In preparing for my talk, I decided to begin by describing what I believe the role of the media is and why it is fundamental to the preservation of freedom and democracy in our great nation. I did some research on the Fourth Estate, a term originally coined in England relative to the media and Parliament, which clarifies the profound responsibility of media as it pertains to the First, Second, and Third Estates, better known as the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, respectively, of our government.
The three branches of our government provide for a checks-and-balances system to ensure the integrity of each branch. While the media is not a branch of the government, its role is no less critical because it represents the public component of the democracy equation. As the Fourth Estate, the media's job is to act as a watchdog on the public's behalf, reporting on the issues, activities, policies, and mindsets of those who govern. In this capacity, the media is instrumental in the dissemination of information that helps the public form around issues, which in turn creates and expands the necessary debate that should ultimately define how we will be governed.
Essential to the media's role is public trust. Without it, the media fails in its primary directive as watchdog, which in turn corrupts the Fourth Estate, resulting in the deterioration of the three other estates because these three branches of government can then operate in a vacuum, so to speak, without accountability. The public can't participate meaningfully without truthful, accurate information, so citizens become apathetic and complacent, withdrawing from the process because we feel powerless to effect change. This collective withdrawal, evidenced in the lack of voter turnout, threatens our democracy like nothing else.
I thought it was important to explain this vital function of the media to the students, giving it the weight it deserves in terms of its contribution to preserving democracy and our freedom. As voters and taxpayers, perhaps we need to be reminded of this, as well. The media has a well-defined responsibility to us, but only we can hold them accountable.
Much of America feels dissatisfied with media's performance due to the increased commercialization of news. We sense an ever-growing irrelevance in the information presented, as well as a bias toward and against certain demographics. More importantly, the media's perspective has shifted from that of the public to that of the government and corporate America. Also, the merging of media organizations and the crossover of media ownership (i.e., newspapers owning the TV and/or radio stations in the same market) reduces the number of independent and editorial voices. The Wall Street Journal on May 14 reported that a bill has been introduced in Congress in response to the FCC's plan to further loosen restrictions on media broadcast ownership. The bill would maintain the current limitations imposed by the FCC. Opponents to the easing of the rules argue that the changes would serve to limit competition and raise advertising prices, but not improve journalism.
As the media continues to focus on marketing and public relations at the expense of investigative reporting and hard news, students of journalism need to be aware of the shift in purpose. Hopefully such an examination will result in a recommitment to the original intent of the media as the Fourth Estate. Kudos to Deb Buttleman-Malcom for exposing her journalism students to such provocative issues.
This week, four of Deb's journalism students entered a contest hosted by Dow Jones. The parameters of the competition included engaging a speaker on the subject of journalism who must deliver a talk for at least 30 minutes and allow for questions at the end, after which the students were required to recap it in a 250-word report to be submitted shortly after the event. To my delight, I was chosen to talk to the kids on this subject so near and dear to my heart. Naturally I exceeded the 30 minutes by another 30 with barely a pause.
In preparing for my talk, I decided to begin by describing what I believe the role of the media is and why it is fundamental to the preservation of freedom and democracy in our great nation. I did some research on the Fourth Estate, a term originally coined in England relative to the media and Parliament, which clarifies the profound responsibility of media as it pertains to the First, Second, and Third Estates, better known as the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, respectively, of our government.
The three branches of our government provide for a checks-and-balances system to ensure the integrity of each branch. While the media is not a branch of the government, its role is no less critical because it represents the public component of the democracy equation. As the Fourth Estate, the media's job is to act as a watchdog on the public's behalf, reporting on the issues, activities, policies, and mindsets of those who govern. In this capacity, the media is instrumental in the dissemination of information that helps the public form around issues, which in turn creates and expands the necessary debate that should ultimately define how we will be governed.
Essential to the media's role is public trust. Without it, the media fails in its primary directive as watchdog, which in turn corrupts the Fourth Estate, resulting in the deterioration of the three other estates because these three branches of government can then operate in a vacuum, so to speak, without accountability. The public can't participate meaningfully without truthful, accurate information, so citizens become apathetic and complacent, withdrawing from the process because we feel powerless to effect change. This collective withdrawal, evidenced in the lack of voter turnout, threatens our democracy like nothing else.
I thought it was important to explain this vital function of the media to the students, giving it the weight it deserves in terms of its contribution to preserving democracy and our freedom. As voters and taxpayers, perhaps we need to be reminded of this, as well. The media has a well-defined responsibility to us, but only we can hold them accountable.
Much of America feels dissatisfied with media's performance due to the increased commercialization of news. We sense an ever-growing irrelevance in the information presented, as well as a bias toward and against certain demographics. More importantly, the media's perspective has shifted from that of the public to that of the government and corporate America. Also, the merging of media organizations and the crossover of media ownership (i.e., newspapers owning the TV and/or radio stations in the same market) reduces the number of independent and editorial voices. The Wall Street Journal on May 14 reported that a bill has been introduced in Congress in response to the FCC's plan to further loosen restrictions on media broadcast ownership. The bill would maintain the current limitations imposed by the FCC. Opponents to the easing of the rules argue that the changes would serve to limit competition and raise advertising prices, but not improve journalism.
As the media continues to focus on marketing and public relations at the expense of investigative reporting and hard news, students of journalism need to be aware of the shift in purpose. Hopefully such an examination will result in a recommitment to the original intent of the media as the Fourth Estate. Kudos to Deb Buttleman-Malcom for exposing her journalism students to such provocative issues.
