This is a book-length topic, but a blog entry in form, so I'll aim for brevity. I enjoyed and learned from last week's discussion around my post on "Real-Life Journalism." Jay Rosen, NYU associate professor who blogs and speaks often about journalism and media, explained his image of a filter as metaphor for the judgement used in putting together daily newspapers. Others added posts and trackbacks.
The problem with the filter metaphor, in my view, is that it seems to say our purpose is to keep things out. I think our purpose is to bring things into view. As I often say, "Find out what's happening, and tell people."
We don't start our work in the newsroom with values defined by partisan politics or ideology. We start with journalism values developed over time and interpreted each day -- values now being translated into The N&O's work online, in blogs and in new forms in our printed paper.
I wrote an N&O column early in the year explaining our newsroom's guiding values, which are framed and posted all over the newsroom, even in the elevator. The opening statement: "The staff of The News & Observer believes in the indispensable role of journalism to inform, engage and empower readers. We are committed to combining the best newspaper traditions with constant innovations...." Here's the column, including the rest of the values statement.
News-gathering is a challenging and imperfect process. The N&O, in a region that's rich in history and popping with change and growth, can never be on top of everything that's happening. But we work pretty hard at gathering news and at telling stories well. Our goals for this year and next focus on working harder for readers by telling stories in clear, direct and engaging ways and by breaking the mold on our approaches. One of the goals concludes this way: "Every day we aim to prove that readers can count on us to get to the bottom of things."
As Rosen says, journalists make choices along the way, what to cover and how to cover things, what to write as a full story or a brief or stand-alone photo or graphic and so forth. Choices are made in a decentralized way, from the level of a photographer framing his image to the restaurant critic deciding which place to review, as well as in some formal processes like front-page meetings.
Again, I see these choices more as gathering and organizing than as filtering -- filtering implies the intention of keeping out certain things that don't support a prescribed outcome. Putting out a daily newspaper (not called "the daily miracle" for nothing) for us involves organizing what seems like an accurate capsule of events and issues for that day. Our focus has long been on regional, local and state news, and with the Internet opening up many other sources for international and national reporting, The N&O's focus is even clearer.
The text that best reflects our newsroom values is "The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect," by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. Chapters on what journalism is for, the journalism of verification and independence from faction articulate what makes this discipline work.
I've heard the same concepts voiced by some bloggers and others who think The N&O and other news organizations should do better at living up to these values. I agree. That passion for doing journalism well frames our work every day.
