One of the biggest challenges I face as a journalism professor is just getting students to read the news. Even those majoring in journalism often spend little time staying abreast of current events. [Read more…] about Journalism Notes: Spiritual Growth Through Reading and Writing News
journalism
Journalism Notes: Elephants, donkeys and media scapegoats
ESN is delighted to welcome Jeff Neely as our new regular journalism columnist. Jeff, a journalism professor at The University of Tampa, will explore issues in his field about twice a month at the ESN blog under the title Journalism Notes. Read his Scholar’s Call piece “Every Christian is a Journalist” here. Note: If you’d like to write regularly on a particular discipline for ESN, email us here.Â
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come in to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. -Â John 19-21 (NIV)
In case you missed it, it’s election season. Candidates are stumping, campaign managers are spinning, and the talking heads can’t stop talking.
It’s also a convenient time for the general public to complain about how biased and sensationalized the news media is (as if “media†were a monolithic singular noun).
Prospective voters across the political spectrum are wont to accuse news outlets of either having a “love fest†with a media darling or waging a smear campaign against their favorite candidate.
Too often, I think, this is a result of our own intellectual laziness. It’s convenient to roll out our partisan rhetoric and blame the media when we’re confronted with news that challenges our beliefs. It’s more difficult to deal dispassionately with this information, assessing it objectively for thoroughness and accuracy.
Are journalists and news executives guilty of boiling down nuanced stories into overly simplified narratives? Yes, some of them. Maybe many of them, and maybe more frequently than not.
But in my experience, there are also a lot of good journalists out there clocking in everyday to do their jobs and hold the powerful accountable.
Every year, the Society of Professional Journalists holds “Sunshine Week,†a time when its chapters around the country put a special focus on the importance of the public’s right to know and the freedom of information.
“It’s our duty as journalists,†the SPJ website reads, “and a key mission for SPJ, to shine light into the dark recesses of government secrecy.â€
When I speak to professional journalists and colleagues who teach in the field, this isn’t just lip service. Most of them are genuinely passionate about this responsibility.
And when this ethos is put into practice, when journalists pursue truth above ratings or their corporate bottom line, and they take their post as our social watchdogs, I think Jesus smiles.
How many times in scripture do we see God telling us to “defend the weak†and “uphold the cause of the poor†(Psalm 82:3)? He is the God who loves justice and hates robbery and wrongdoing (Isaiah 61:8).
“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the unfortunate,†the Proverbs tell us. “Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy†(31:8-9).
We want our leaders to be vetted. We want corruption exposed. We want confidence that they are looking out for all constituents, not just those who pull the levers of power.
And I for one want someone to look into politicians’ record of public service or their claims of personal accomplishments. I want to walk into that voting booth with my eyes wide open, not my ears well tickled.
This may all sound a little idealistic, I know. Every one of us could point to examples where news professionals abandoned their journalistic integrity, either in isolated cases or as routine practice, for myriad base reasons.
So what are we saying, that journalism claims to have a virtuous calling but is in reality marred by the abuses and shortcomings of its human practitioners? Hmm . . . that sounds familiar.
Absolutely, we must watch the watchdogs. Certainly, we should expose journalists’ dereliction of duty. But we must also be careful not to paint with the same broad brush all who work in or aspire to what I sincerely believe is a noble profession. (Clearly, my own personal biases are on full display here.)
Jesus came into the world as light, “so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness†(John 12:46). This is a spiritual truth, but I believe it applies in every aspect of our life.
Scientists are called to seek an understanding of the universe’s natural order. Lawyers, according the American Bar Association, are called to defend liberty and pursue justice.
Journalists are called to provide people with the information they need to make their own decisions—on whom to vote for, where to spend their money, which school to attend, or where to go for the best pork barbecue.
We do a disservice to ourselves when we casually cast off “the media†as disreputable. As news consumers we should be discerning, not dismissive.
Let’s get past the talking points. Let’s shine the light of truth and see things plainly as they are.
Image courtesy of bykst at Pixabay.com
Scholar’s Call: Every Christian is a Journalist
As part of our Scholar’s Call collection, Jeff Neely describes how being a believer and a journalist intersect in his experience, and points to some windows journalism gives us into practicing Christian faith, whatever our vocations. [Read more…] about Scholar’s Call: Every Christian is a Journalist
Scholar’s Compass: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty
Reading
Reflection
Last fall I took a course on institutional management theory, where I was introduced to economist Albert Hirschman, whose slim volume titled Exit, Voice, and Loyalty has seen wide-ranging influence since its publication in 1970. The book “virtually revived the field of political economy,†American Prospect editor Robert Kuttner writes in an article memorializing Hirschman, who died in late 2012. [Read more…] about Scholar’s Compass: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty
Week in Review: Reporting Edition
Here’s the top five articles, books, websites, etc., that we’ve been reading or thinking about the past week. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. In addition, if you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.
1. Have you experienced, participated in, or witnessed
Tweckle (twek’ul) vt. to abuse a speaker only to Twitter followers in the audience while he/she is speaking”?
Any thoughts on how Tweckle (or the possibility of it) affect conference (and classroom) dynamics? Any practices which you’ve found (or think could address) to decrease its influence? — Conference Humiliation: They’re Tweeting Behind Your Back (Marc Parry, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 17, 2009). Note: on the other side, I’ve seen plenty of positive commenting on conferencing/events.
2. A number of Chronicle of Higher Education articles on news/journalism including:
- Academe and the Decline of News Media (Forum, November 15, 2009)
- I’ve Read the News Today, Oh Boy (Ben Yagoda, November 15, 2009)
- Journalism Schools Can Push Coverage Beyond Breaking News (Nicholas Lemann, November 15, 2009)
- University-Based Reporting Could Keep Journalism Alive (Michael Schudson and Leonard Downie Jr., November 15, 2009)
- We Need ‘Philosophy of Journalism’ (Carlin Romano, November 15, 2009).
3. Belle de Jour reveals herself…as a research scientist. The anonymous blog and television show Secret Diary of a Call Girl – written from the perspective of a high-end prostitute – were much bigger in the UK than on this side of the pond. The mystery of “who is Belle de Jour?” ended this week, when Dr. Brooke Magnanti confessed that she had turned to prostitution as a way to pay for her PhD. Magnanti now works for The Bristol Initiative for Research of Child Health. Magnanti says it was good work:
Dr Magnanti told the Sunday Times she worked as a prostitute from 2003 to late 2004, and found it “so much more enjoyable” than her shifts in another job as a computer programmer.
How ironic that Magnanti studies child health. Tanya Gold of the Guardian says don’t be misled: most prostitutes in the UK live pretty awful lives.
The report found that 70%–95% of the interviewees were physically assaulted while working as prostitutes. 60%–75% were raped while working as prostitutes; of these, more than half were repeatedly raped. 65%–95% meanwhile were sexually abused as children; the line of continuity between being used as a child and being used as an adult is clear.
Around the world, prostitution is often a form of slavery, as CNN reported this week. Urbana‘s Advocacy and Poverty track is going to focus on the issue of modern day slavery and sex trafficking, and the work of Christian organizations against this evil.
4. Big Man on Campus – Time profiled Gordon Gee, president of The Ohio State University, anointing him as the best college president in the nation. (Here is the rest of their top 10 list.) Earlier this year, Gee told universities they face “reinvention or extinction” at the American Council on Education’s annual meeting.
To avoid “slouching into irrelevance,” he said, universities must structure themselves horizontally, rather than vertically, change the way they reward faculty and staff members, and learn to better collaborate with each other. While partnerships with business, elementary and secondary schools, and governments are crucial, he said, perhaps the most important links are between universities.
A Call for “Intentional Upheaval.” An article, adapted from the American Council on Education’s Atwell Lecture, delivered on February 8th by Dr. Gee, president of The Ohio State University, is available here. 11/17/2012. 8:26 AM. Update.
Books
5. Tom’s been recommending Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture (Adam McHugh, InterVarsity Press, November 2009) to a number of people, including members of the academic community. Below’s a quote from Chapter 1, available on-line through InterVarsity Press. An excellent author interview can be found at Adam McHugh on ‘Introverts in the Church’.
The pragmatism that we have inherited fosters an action oriented culture. Evangelicalism values the doer over the thinker. The evangelical God has a big agenda. It’s as if the moment we surrender our lives to Christ we are issued a flashing neon sign that says “GO!†There is a restless energy to evangelicalism that leads to a full schedule and a fast pace. Some have said that, in Christian culture, busyness is next to godliness. We are always in motion, constantly growing, ever expanding. …“American religion is conspicuous for its messianically pretentious energy, its embarrassingly banal prose, and its impatiently hustling ambition.†[Eugene Peterson]