Real Journalism
First, let’s define “real journalism.”
I became interested in journalism in the mid-1950s. I listened to radio newscasts and watched television newscasts for ten years, then went to college to learn how to do what I had heard and seen journalists do. What I learned in the mid-1960s prepared me to do “real journalism.”
My first news story for a radio station in 1967 was about a fatal traffic accident. The news director wanted the basics of the story: who, what, when, where, how and why. That’s what I learned in college, so it was good to see my academic training matched what employers wanted from their journalists. Those and other basics I’ll share in coming months are at the heart of “real” journalism.
Why?
Because too many journalists are no longer doing real journalism. I say that based on being a career journalist myself and training and managing journalists for several decades. I hope that some of what I’ve done and what I see today in journalism might help.
Old Fashioned?
Courtesy: Detroit News
After more than 50 years of writing stories for broadcast, newspapers, wires, networks and online, I’m still using the same foundation for “real” journalism. In other words, I haven’t changed the way I approach a story since the mid-1960s. Some younger journalists might think that’s a bit old fashioned. My question to them is “why”? Why is something old fashioned if it’s the right way to do something as important as cover and report news to the public? I think that’s a fair question to ask journalists and members of the public.
The technical process of gathering news has changed a lot since the 1960s. That’s a good thing for the most part. I used to drive around town with a pocket full of dimes to use for pay phones to call contacts and the newsroom. Now we use mobile devices that do everything from making phone calls to checking email and doing research for news stories.
What’s not a good thing is changing the purpose of gathering and reporting news. The purpose should always be to discover the unvarnished truth and tell that truth accurately and fairly. My personal opinion about a story should have no bearing on what I ask, what I find or what I report.
Like most human beings I have personal opinions about lots of things. I was a strong atheist during the first several years I was a journalist. Atheists have strong opinions about lots of things. Should I have allowed my being an atheist to affect the way I gathered and reported news? No. That wouldn’t have been fair to people who depended on my reporting to be accurate and fair. I later became a Christian. Christians also have strong opinions about lots of things. Should I have allowed my being a Christian to affect the way I gathered and reported news? No. That would have also been unfair to people who depended on my reporting to be accurate and fair.
Being a “real” journalist means doing journalism in a way that is not impacted by the journalist’s personal opinions. That’s an important aspect of defining real journalism.
Newsletter Purpose
The purpose of this newsletter is to help journalists understand how to do real journalism and the public know how they can find news they can trust on a daily basis. It’s a simple purpose, but complicated to accomplish. We’ll do our best to make it as clear as we can in future newsletters.