Thinking about news, citing 'problem solvers and pioneers charting new ways to live up to enduring responsibilities'

The paymasters of journalism scramble every day to adapt to the digital revolution. For most, the bottom line is always top of mind, and public service often takes a back seat. But there are sharp observers and thinkers about the news business and journalism (which are not the same thing), and they can help the paymasters serve not just the shareholders but all the stakeholders: the public.

Tom Rosenstiel

One of those observers and thinkers is Tom Rosenstiel, head of the American Press Institute and author with Bill Kovach of The Elements of Journalism, a book that is a guide for the press and public. He recently started a series of columns with The Poynter Institute about journalism, politics, culture, news-media ethics, technology and the search for sustainability for news. In his first column he made several points, two of which are most relevant to readers of The Rural Blog; in the second column he asked several questions, one of which was particularly relevant.

Rosenstiel began his second column, "It is fashionable in some quarters to say local journalism is dying. But look closer. Amid the difficult search for a new economic model, a skeptical, polarized public and serious reflection over longstanding practices, the field is also full of dreamers, problem solvers and pioneers charting new ways to live up to enduring responsibilities. I hope to highlight the dreamers here from time to time."

One of his questions was, How do journalists contend with public officials who are lying? That's nothing new, but has been elevated to new levels in recent years, he notes, and gives one example of how to confront the liars: WITF, the public radio and television station in Harrisburg, Pa., which
"has promised it will regularly hold accountable those who played a role in perpetuating the falsehood that the presidential election was stolen." One way: Identify “how elected officials’ actions are connected to the election-fraud lie and the insurrection.” For example, if a legislator introduces a bill, WITF will note that they “signed a letter asking members of Congress to delay certifying Pennsylvania’s electoral votes despite no evidence to call those results into question.”

One of Rosenstiel's points in his first column was, "The press must be a fair watchdog and prepare to be hated for it. A few weeks ago one of the best editors in the country wrote a note to his readers promising to hold the Biden administration accountable just as he would any other. The only response he received from readers, he told me, was to be attacked. You are about to fall into false equivalency and both sides-ism, he was scolded. He won’t be the last to hear it. In the coming months, the political left will complain to journalists locally and nationally about false equivalencies — the idea that any missteps by Joe Biden or other Democrat leaders pale by comparison to the sins of Trump and the GOP. The political right will be quick to accuse the press of being soft liberal hypocrites, arguing it spent the last four years trying to hound Trump from office. Hard as it will be, we must take our licks and do our jobs. The press should be tough when necessary, but not performatively so. It should be guided by telling the truth and reflect humility about how much it knows. And it should describe with evidence, not label or stereotype."

Another key point was, "One story now is more important than any other. Sarah Alvarez, the founder of Outlier Media in Michigan, has developed criteria for deciding where to apply her limited reporting resources. She asks: 1) What is affecting the most people? 2) What is the level of harm? 3) Where are there gaps in what people need to know? By Alvarez’s smart criteria, one story matters most today: the pandemic. The coronavirus threatens everyone in the country. . . . People are misinformed about it, and the economy cannot recover until it is under control. . . . Cover it for what it is — the defining story of our generation, and focus on what the public needs. Get inside local health-care systems, identify possible solutions and not just problems, tell stories we have not heard. To survive in a networked world, journalism must be a service — not just a product — one that meets people where they are and helps them make their lives better."