It's been awhile since I've done a journalism related post, but I just have to vent.
And considering the title of my blog and the decade I spent as part of the media, I feel like I need to express something.
I'm sick to death of all the self promotion "journalists" are doing these days.
It's not about how many people read your blog. It's not about how many people follow you on twitter. It's not a contest to see how many tweets or Facebook posts you can do in a 24 hour period. It's about REPORTING THE NEWS.
And you know what? If it's not about reporting the news for you, then you're not a journalist.
Period.
I don't care what event you're M.C.'ing later on. I don't care what restaurant sneak preview you attended. (which ethically speaking, you're not supposed to attend anyway, because you're not supposed to get free stuff. It's called payola. And I'm guessing that most of those free drinks/appetizers/meals for you and your date add up to way more than $25... the usual limit.)
I might care about what story you're working on... but even then... keep your opinion out of it. Just tell me what the story is and when to watch.
I know, I know, you need to get viewers, readers, listeners, whatever. How about this... do your job well and people will watch. I don't want to follow you on Twitter. I don't want a tease for what story you're working on for tonight on my Facebook status updates. I don't want to see call-outs to @whoever. (I assume this is a twitter thing, but since I flat out refuse to follow the herd to this site, I wouldn't know for certain. All I know is that a plethora of my media pals feel the need to do these things.
And the sad part to me is that we as a society seem to be eating this up. Why? Why? Why? I don't get it!
Don't get me wrong. I think technology has the potential to greatly enhance reporting. I love that stations post extended interviews or raw video on their websites.
But reporters and anchors aren't supposed to show their bias. They are not supposed to publicly state opinions. When they do... lines are crossed. Respect is lost. Trust is lost.
If you want to have a blog, fine. If you want to Twitter or Facebook, fine. If you feel the need to express yourself, create personal blogs separate from your TV/newspaper persona.
And please, for the love of all that is decent, don't spend valuable airtime/page space promoting it.
5 comments:
I don't get it either. As I don't get what passes for news in most places any more.
It used to be the other way around, people were attracted to newscasters and would be impressed by their endorsement/presence, now it's like some are walking ad space. Yikes!
Amen!
Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. The whole thing's gotten, well, cheezy! I don't get Twitter either.
As a self-promoting journalist, I have to disagree a little bit. The great thing about these services is that if you don't care about it, you don't have to follow-it. It's totally opt-in.
The journalists who use Twitter and Facebook solely for the purposes you talk about are missing the point. The reason to build all of these followers is to have an instant network of potential sources. I get story ideas from my followers, I ask them if possible stories are of interest, and I include their feedback on air.
I also talk about events I'm doing and the other stuff that some care about, some don't. If people didn't like it - they'd start defriending and unfollowing and I'd stop doing it.
If people are spending a lot of airtime promoting Twitter and Facebook, it's not good. But seriously, is a 10 second invite to connect online worse than the 30 second stupid national feed kicker that ends every newscast? Plus: when in the history of journalism have the consumers of journalism ever had such an easy, direct opportunity to interact with reporters? I think it's a good thing.
I get that it can help build sources. That's a very good point. I just get sick of hearing and reading "tweet me" or "you can read more about this on my blog."
Jason, you are very good at what you do.You know you're one of my favorites... and if you don't, I just emailed you about it!
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