Ronda Hauben on Tue, 18 Apr 2006 08:38:36 +0200 (CEST)


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<nettime> Goal of journalism should be to speak to citizen


There was a wonderful panel at Columbia U on Friday about
the nature of journalism. I wrote an article summarizing the panel
for OhmyNews that I thought folks on this list would find of interest..
Ronda

Business Wrong Model for Journalism
Goal of journalism should be to speak to citizens
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=5&no=286231&rel_no=1

Four professional journalists appeared at Columbia University in New York
in a panel on "Reporting War".(1) Charles Glass, an American journalist,
set the tone for the panel by describing the destruction of journalism in
the U.S. by the business culture it is embedded in. Other invited speakers
on the panel were the American journalist, Seymour Hersh, British
journalist Robert Fisk, and John Pilger, an Australian filmmaker and
journalist writing for British and other publications.

Glass entered the journalist profession 35 years ago, viewing it as "a
higher calling." His goal was "to tell the truth." While he commended the
other journalists sharing the panel with him as exceptions, he maintained
that this ideal has been debased in American journalistic practice. The
professional ethic of the journalist has become the victim of a business
culture. He explained, "We are all content or service providers to
customers.... Our moral obligation to tell the truth is too often
over-riden by the commercial concerns to do what the employer wants."




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