To: The Mainstream News Media
From: A former reporter/news junkie
Re: Put The Champagne Away. The Party Is Over. Now Get Back To Work
First, thanks again - both as a journalist for more than 10 years and a human - for doing such an excellent job on Katrina.
Along with others, I wrote about some great media accomplishments during the disaster.
It was inspiring to see some reporters working so hard under terrible conditions.
That said, it's time for the celebrating and the self-congratulations to stop.
The fact of the matter is the reason the journalism was exciting was because reporters were once again asking tough questions, having gotten their spine back from whereever it has been stored in recent years.
Put another way, journalists are praising each other for doing what they are supposed to be doing, asking tough questions, using their B.S. detectors, etc.
This would be like writing columns thanking doctors for doing operations, cops for catching robbers, and rock stars for, well, rocking.
As I read three newspapers and many media blogs daily, I see story after story of reporters, editors, and columnists talking about their finest hour.
Well, that hour is over and it's time to get back to work and show us, the readers and viewers, that you can continue to be aggressive on other issues.
The disaster and its aftermath raised some excellent questions which will hopefully not be forgotten, from when it is acceptable - if ever - to publish photos of dead bodies to whether the media should help people in dangerous conditions even it may mean losing the story.
Resist the urge to get bogged down in blame game stories. Those get old fast.
And please resist the temptation to cover every other hurricane as if it is going to be the next Katrina. It won't be.
Article comments
1 - Nancy
The Media have become just as self-absorbed & self-congratulatory as the celebrities & politicians they cover. I'm surprised they haven't started an annual televised awards for themselves, a la the Oscars. Maybe they could call it the "Wursts" after William Randolph Hearst. They've become part of the problem instead of being a good deal of the solution. I suspect they've gotten so used to rubbing shoulders with those in the top echeclons of crime - excuse me, I mean politics & power - that, envying the lifestyles of the corrupt & famous, they do their best to suck up & become social colleages, at least, instead of regarding them as fodder for investigating, chewing up, & spitting out, as they should be.
I also can't help but wonder how much influence is exerted by the fact that the preponderance of all media outlets are owned by conservative, big-bucks donors to the BushCo cause?
2 - JELIEL
FUCK YEAH!!! Pardon my french but it's nice to here folks in the news media talking like this. Journalism seems to be dead and we saw a ghost in the last few weeks. I certainly hope there are more like you out there. IMHO and I'm no journalist, but I believe the purpose of journalism is to keep the government and corporations and organisations of any kind honest. And I haven't seen much of that in years.
And control room is a masterpiece of documentary work. Those who think Al Jazeera (sp?) is another axis evil member, should see this puppy and realise that they offer more reliable news than CNN, FOX, MSNBC and a lot of other televised news.
3 - Scott Butki
Thanks. I'm glad you like it.
I'll write more later.
4 - JELIEL
I'll be reading
5 - Scott Butki
For the record I left the news business about six months ago in order to go into education. I'm a full-time student now and will begin teaching elementary school in the fall, if all goes right.
I agree that journalism should be about comforting the afflicting and afflicting the comfortable but there are indeed many journalists who don't want to rock the boat or do anything that might get them in trouble.
6 - Scott Butki
I am writing the second column up now.
7 - Cerulean
They did very well with Katrina, especially Anderson Cooper, who I think trained himself to be a journalist. Just recently CNN had some new and stunning footage on police looting in New Orleans. It's not so much that they need to stop thinking about Katrina, which was monumental, as that they do need to question authority on a continuing basis.
I agree that their non-Katrina self-contratulations are unwarranted. When an aging WASP male network anchor retires or dies, you'd think that that Christ had left us. When I last watched network news (many years ago), it always looked like these guys were flown into somewhere where other reporters must have done the legwork while they stood there with their hairsprayed hair and portentious voices telling us what they were fed and not much more. I don't think they need to be highly lionized. I don't see the real questioning of authority that needs to happen, just a delicate surface dance that never really goes very far. They and their synchophantic colleagues tell us what a trusted part of our "lives" they are. They never show us an accounting of scoops, investigative stories, and substantive accomplishments to back this up. Viewers were be hard-pressed to come up with this either.
I like CNN, but recently they were trumpeting themselves constantly with this 25 year anniversary thing. It was overkill. No, I did not want to see collages of upsetting world events from the past 25 years every five minutes. Today's upsetting events are enough, thanks.
News shows need to do real investigative journalism all the time, and stop dancing around in deference to corporate and government interests. A little less deference and a little more journalism.
8 - Scott Butki
Yes, it was nice to see Anderson working hard for the money.
I'm glad to see you agree with my piece. Thanks.
9 - Jim Lamb
This phrase in your headline said it all: "The Party Is Over. Now Get Back To Work." I was a journalist for about 15 years, most of which I enjoyed. But I well understood that yesterday's newspaper was probably at the bottom of a birdcage -- gone and forgotten. News is "now." Yesterday is for historians. Everyday is "game day" for journalists. That's what I loved about the job -- and hated ... as well as why I miss it so much. Thanks for reminding of that with this piece.
10 - Scott Butki
Thanks a lot, Jim. I appreciate the compliment.
My second piece is now up. It is
here
11 - Scott Butki
One more reason why the reporters should stop celebrating: It turns out that much of their coverage of rumors was flat out wrong.