I'm not a journalist, but I play one on TV

Diego Sorbara

Can Anyone Be A Journalist?

Can anyone be a journalist? Short answer: yes. Long answer: no.
From the outset, nobody is born a journalist. There’s something within each person that makes him want to tell the stories of others rather than go into more prosperous and well-paying careers, such as brain surgery. On a metaphysical level, that’s all that separates a journalist from everyone else.
So then, shouldn’t everyone who really wants to tell the stories of someone else be considered a journalist? In class, we came up with a list of qualities that included being fair, objective, curious and informed, which describes a wide swath of the population. But journalists also play many different roles. In class, we drew up a fairly lengthy list of roles: chronicler of opinions, preserver of democracy, informer of the public, to name a few. These are roles that are not to be taken lightly and well out of reach for a common citizen; they entail a full-fledged job that demands a certain skill set. Curiosity is a great start, but in order to hunt down stories, journalists rely on interviewing skills developed at a journalism school or on the job. To remain a watchdog and a preserver of democracy, journalists attend countless meetings, many times coming back to the newsroom with no concrete story but with a notebook full of ideas to hunt; an average citizen doesn’t have the luxury to devote so much time to the process of writing. The process of journalism demands a copious investment of time and will, well beyond what an armchair citizen-cum-reporter can give.
The obvious counter to that idea is the rise of the blogger. If you can’t be a full-time journalist, working for an established newspaper, the Internet and a simple blog account can serve as a way to be a sort of journalist. Not so. First off, we determined in class that there are various elements that journalists have and bloggers don’t, such as reach, resources, training; we also mentioned that bloggers tend to skew more toward a certain political ideology and that they don’t have as much a compunction to truth and inscrutable accuracy as do most journalists. In “We the Media,” Dan Gillmor even states that, “Blogs and other modern media are feedback systems.” The blog is not the source of news, but a reaction to the news. But even in the eventual evolution of the news industry, Gillmor carefully hedges his comments about blogging: “Yes, this new media has created, or at least exacerbated, difficult issues of credibility and fairness.”
However, bloggers have redefined how we consume news. With outlets like the Drudge Report, news consumers have new avenues to finding exactly what they want; someone interested in newspaper design can get the latest industry news at www.newsdesigner.com whereas someone interested in grammar can check out nstockdale.blogspot.com. These sites not only feature posts straight from the blogger’s mind but also serve as a collection of links to articles in newspapers and other news sites.
Bloggers, however, have added to democracy by being an unofficial check on the Fourth Estate. Remember that it was bloggers who questioned the documents Dan Rather showed on “60 Minutes” that called into question President Bush’s service in the military. The very opinionated nature of bloggers gives them a chance to act as critics for a media that goes largely unchecked and that relies on a tacit agreement with the public to present the news objectively and without bias. Thus while not acting specifically as journalists, they keep journalists in check and in turn help preserve democracy just as much.
Moving beyond blogs, what we find today in citizen journalism Web sites such as MyMissourian.com is in no way akin to citizens being journalists; while it is a step forward to create a vessel for people to write and contribute their own news, it often turns into a collection of tedium or submissions of little interest. Among the recent highlights of another site similar to MyMissourian, Dan Gillmor’s own Bayosphere, are updates about a comics convention and “the most boring Macworld ever!” So-called grassroots journalism Web sites are skimpy on substantial news or even on news that can help the community.
However, there is a middle ground. As theories of news develop, the gulf between citizen and reporter doesn’t have to widen any further. In an interview with Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages, Craig Newmark, creator of Craigslist, emphasized the need for a balance and merging of professional and citizen journalism. He maintains that while citizens can post anything to the Web, it’s not a substitute for the product professional journalists produce: “The deal is, there’s no substitute for professional-level writing and fact-checking and editing. … People have gotten too excited about citizen journalism, and they’re not addressing the balance well.”
The world of a journalist and the world of a citizen will never overlap perfectly. The role of a journalist is one that everyone can play but one that few have the luxury or resources to play well. However, the world of a journalist and the world of a citizen can dovetail well. The future does not lie in empowering citizens to become journalists; rather, it lies in bringing citizens into the process of journalism. Thus, while not everyone can be a journalist, everyone can be involved in the gathering and disseminating of news.