I studied at the U of M’s School of Professional Journalism (“The J-School”) and even though it was not that long ago, industry practices appear to have changed a great deal since then (not to mention my career as a Financial Advisor having nothing to do with Journalism).
Lost is the notion that a journalist is a professional at least in the sense that a professional follows a creed; adheres to some standard of excellence; observes a code of ethics. Nowadays, objectivity is for sissies. Everything is an editorial.
Journalistic “talent” is more apt to refer to a Journalist’s visage or breast size than more cerebral aptitudes.
A reversal of sorts has emerged. Conclusions are crafted, research is conducted and the story is written to substantiate it. Political events are reverse engineered. Newspapers didn’t use have agendas…or at least were a lot better at concealing it.
And the printed journal is suffering for it.
This morning on Sirius 144 The Patriot I heard Bill Bennett read The Journalists Creed.
The Journalist’s Creed was written by the first dean of the Missouri School of Journalism, Walter Williams. One century later, his declaration remains one of the clearest statements of the principles, values and standards of journalists throughout the world. The plaque bearing the creed is located on the main stairway to the second floor of Neff Hall.
It is engraved in bronze; surviving now only in spirit. The bronze’s worth now measured by its weight – not the import it conveys.
They were heady days…when a journalist could be counted on for the facts. Nothing more/nothing less. News was news. Opinion was relegated to the Editorial Page.
Great reward found the investigative reporter that uncovered a truth unknown but of great weight; and it was never served until it was corroborated; confirmed. If anything, the press showed too much restraint in the interest of the greater good. JFK’s affairs weren’t in the news – it wasn’t good for America.
In the interest of The Republic, in-depth coverage and vetting could be expected to be conducted on both party’s candidate. Not just the one, usually a conservative, that the paper wasn’t endorsing – a bastardization of the institution in and of itself.
Case in point: More time and effort has been invested on the part of the media to determine the the maternity of Sarah Palin’s granddaughter than Barack Obama’s associations with admitted domestic terrorists, anti-American ideologues, or the prime instigators of our current financial crisis, Raines and Frank, both either allies or advisers to Barack Obama.
And the voter is suffering for it.
Newspapers have been dying a slow death for many years now. Soon the printed page will be a thing of the past.
As for the state of Journalism? The Blogosphere has emerged as an agent for change and frictionless expression. Objectivity, and even truth are left for the reader to discern and evaluate. Feedback and commentary is real time. The Blog is the modern day version of the pamphlet of Ben Franklin’s time; published with a nom de plume, not unlike the millions of blogs across the globe.
And objectivity in the blogosphere? It’s for sissies here as well.
As for the creed? Read it and weep.
I believe in the profession of journalism.
I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is betrayal of this trust.
I believe that clear thinking and clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism.
I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true.
I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible.
I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one’s own pocketbook is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another’s instructions or another’s dividends.
I believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should alike serve the best interests of readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and cleanness should prevail for all; that the supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service.
I believe that the journalism which succeeds best — and best deserves success — fears God and honors Man; is stoutly independent, unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power, constructive, tolerant but never careless, self-controlled, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid, is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance and, as far as law and honest wage and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world-comradeship; is a journalism of humanity, of and for today’s world.
Those were heady days.
This is a lot like Karl Rove reading a heart-felt eulogy for Bill Clinton. It’s a little premature and it’s pretty clear you’re no friend of the alleged deceased.
Mitch:
“More time and effort has been invested on the part of the media to determine the the maternity of Sarah Palin’s granddaughter than Barack Obama’s associations with admitted domestic terrorists”
How do you know this oh careful journalist?
Funny I missed the NYT article on the maternity of Palin’s granddaughter. ‘Palin’ and ‘Granddaughter’ turns up no hits at there website. They did do a long article on Obama and Ayers though.
Google has just 256,000 hits for ‘Palin Granddaughter’, none of the first page are major media outlets.
There are 3,000,000 for Obama Ayers and the first page includes ABS, Boston Globe, Sun-Times, Wash Po, and Fox News.
Yes, because Google search results are SO definitive.
Oh, hey look: 7.2 million results for “Mccain terrorist!”
6.8 million results for “obama gay!”
201,000 results for “Mccain butt sex!”
254,000 results for “obama butt sex!”
11,500 reults for “obama cleveland steamer!”
8,370 results for “mccain cleveland steamer!”
Boy, this is fun.
I graduated from Missouri’s School of Journalism in ’79, and I remember Neff Hall, the Journalist’s Creed and the memory of Walter Williams, especially as espoused by Prof. Taft in our History of Journalism classes. I was there in era right after the movie “All The President’s Men” led to a generation (or more) of J-schoolers who wanted to be Woodwards and Bernsteins (or “Woodsteins” in Prof. Taft’s vocabulary).
Crusading skepticism and idealism was the order of the day, but we were also drilled endlessly on things like getting at least two sources to corroborate any fact and to present all sides of a story in the service of Truth. Even though you naturally assumed everyone was lying to you, you’d let each liar have his/her say and let the reader decide. Prof. Kennedy raked us from the editorial desk and lectured us from the podium on the need to protect our own credibility and the public trust by not indulging in unnamed sources (because you can’t evaluate their agendas) and composite characters to advance the story (well before Janet Cooke and Stephen Glass) because it makes “the story” more important than the facts.
Truth was supposed to be The Cause, and somewhere along the line The Cause became more important than The Truth, which is a human failing not specific to journalism, and creeds became as quaint as “fearing God and honoring Man”. As Mark Helprin has observed, journalists take their role as watchdogs seriously, but the watchdog soon learns how to command the sheep to turn in the way the watchdog wants and to trample who the watchdog wants trampled.
Rick, I think Roosh was being sarcastic but the reason you got no hits was because you didn’t search under “Bristol Palin incest” because that’s what was being alleged by the loony left. Granddaughter is too genteel a term for some.
As for the MSM, How many of the 3,000,000 Obama Ayres stories are actually attacks on McCain Palin for alleged “racism?” I can’t quite wrap my head around that one. That’s the real failure of Journalism here, a failure to engage or encourage rational thought and put aside one’s own enthusiasms.
“Cleveland Steamer”?!?!?!
Do I dare ask? Do I even want to know?
you don’t want to know
RickDFL:
The fact that you can’t read or spell sort of depreciates the value of your opinion. Sorry.
I’d like to see the Clown illustrate his claim… but not with Crayolas.
JRoosh:
“The fact that you can’t read or spell sort of depreciates the value of your opinion.”
That is OK, since I only posted facts, not opinions. I don’t see you disputing them.
I’d like to see Yossarian illustrate “Cleveland steamer.”
The ever-factual RickDFL posits:
Mitch:
“More time and effort has been invested on the part of the media to determine the the maternity of Sarah Palin’s granddaughter than Barack Obama’s associations with admitted domestic terrorists”
How do you know this oh careful journalist?
Funny I missed the NYT article on the maternity of Palin’s granddaughter. ‘Palin’ and ‘Granddaughter’ turns up no hits at there website. They did do a long article on Obama and Ayers though.
I’m guessing Mitch made a typo here – the question of maternity didn’t concern Palin’s granddaughter – the allegation was that Palin faked a pregnancy to cover up for her daughter Bristol, for reasons that make zero sense. And since the child in question is a boy, I’m not surprised that there aren’t a lot of references to Palin granddaughter. If the wild-ass allegations were true, it would really be a reference to palin’s grandson, no?
But Yoss is right – Google references don’t necessarily tell you anything. But in case anyone was wondering, you get 11,500 hits on Google for “Rick DFL Silly.”
And actually, I goofed too, because this is Roosh’s post. I’ll go vote for you to make up for it, good sir.
Course catalog from the Missouri School of Journalism:
-Mark Twain, His Life and Times
-Mark Twain — A Demi-God who Walked the Earth
-Mark Twain — Graduate Studies
-Mark Twain’s Missouri
-Learn To Write Like Mark Twain
-“The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent was Summer in San Fransisco”, The Aphorism’s of Mark Twain.
-How Did Mark Twain Win The Civil War, Free the Slaves, and Save the Union Without Help From Anybody Else?
-How Badly Could Mark Twin Have Beaten Up Bret Harte?
-Sam Clemens, His Life and Times
Keep in mind here that in a Google search, actual news outlet reports can be buried in a mountain of blogs. Rick’s “research” is not entirely definitive, to put it mildly.
And while I’m glad that reporting “the truth” was drilled into the J school grads here, I’m afraid that for many fellow students of Roosh and NW, that fidelity to the truth was abandoned when they got their first promotion out of poverty level wages. My wife remembers, for example, a reporter who basically had her stories written before coming to interview anybody at her workplace.
So call me skeptical that the press has ever really had that much fidelity to the truth. A few greats, yes, but there were a lot of mediocres out there, too.
Mr. D:
“the allegation was that Palin faked a pregnancy to cover up for her daughter Bristol” So you are saying the question of who is the mother of that baby is not a question of maternity?
No Rick, I’m saying the kid is a boy, not a girl, so if the wild ass theory were true it would be Palin’s grandson, not granddaughter.
Put another way, if I were conducting a Google search regarding you, I wouldn’t ask Google for results about Roberta.
Sometimes you’re more dense than plutonium, dude.
That is OK, since I only posted facts, not opinions. I don’t see you disputing them.
It was my post, dude. I already said my piece. Oh, wait, that’s right you’re the guy that can’t tell the difference between M-i-t-c-h-B-e-r-g and J-R-o-o-s-h.
My bad. I should be more tolerant of the developmentally challenged.
Mr. D:
You are right. I was wrong to rely on SITD posters for basic facts.
Still nothing in NYT on Palin and Grandson, and only 500,000 in Google, none of the first result page are major media outlets.
The point is simple. I can point to several MSM outlets covering Obama Ayers, but no one here can point out a single newspaper or television story on the possibility Palin is not the mother of Trig. For something JRoosh posted as obvious, it sure lacks any evidence.
Wrong again, Rick. As we’ve patiently explained to you, Google results aren’t dispositive. Nor is the New York Times.
But the good news is that, a few days hence, a Google search for “RickDFL Cleveland Steamer” will get results. It’s a badge of honor for ya, Seabiscuit!
What about “RickDFL” and “Uncle Charlie Smoking a Cigar”?
Seriously, TicRick, on what facts are you hanging your hat? You need to refine your facts, unvagueify them a bit.
It is like saying your yard is green, when you merely have everything paved and painted green. There’s a little more to the story.
Until then, there’s a shinebox with your name on it just waiting for you.
Mr. D:
I suppose you would not consider some guy between Mrs. D’s legs thrusting away, dispositive proof of her lack of fidelity.
There are multiple instances of major MSM newstories on Obama and Ayers, but so far you can not produce a single example of a newspaper story on the maternity of Trig Palin.
Badda:
“There’s a little more to the story.”
So far that little more does not include you or anyone else producing a single example of a newspaper story on the maternity of Trig Palin.
Don’t get me wrong. I prefer you people running around in a fact free haze of confusion. It produces wonderfully incompetent campaigns like the Johnny Mac DeathRace2008. Face it, right now conservative Republicans are the most unpopular minority in the country. People hate you. Keep doing exactly what you are doing.
People “hate” us? I detect a slight exaggeration… more than usual.
However, if you don’t want to do your due diligence, who are we to stop you?
RickDFL said:
“Face it, right now conservative Republicans are the most unpopular minority in the country. People hate you.”
So Democrats really are the Party of Hate? Is this part of the “haze of confusion” you were talking about?
Mr. D:
I suppose you would not consider some guy between Mrs. D’s legs thrusting away, dispositive proof of her lack of fidelity.
There are multiple instances of major MSM newstories on Obama and Ayers, but so far you can not produce a single example of a newspaper story on the maternity of Trig Palin.
You can kindly leave my wife out of this discussion, asshat.
It’s not my job to produce anything, asshat. My only point was that a Google search is only as good as its inputs. Got that, asshat?
And now in a few days, a Google search on “RickDFL Asshat” will yield results. And anyone so inclined will know that you, sir, are an asshat.
In case I haven’t made myself clear.
but so far you can not produce a single example of a newspaper story on the maternity of Trig Palin
But Rick has produced positive evidence of just how scum-laden and disgusting liberal DFL hacks really are. No one has “produced a single newspaper story” about Rick’s maternity, but I have it on good authority that his mother had cloven hooves.
Douche.
Don’t see the words “newspaper stories” in there.
Kos & Andrew Sullivan were pushing this story hard.
Not only cloven hooves, Kermit… Tic-Rick’s mother also sews socks that smell.
Cleveland Steamer: http://tinyurl.com/3hw8st
(sfw, I promise)
And RickDFL should maybe look at Andrew Sullivan’s blog for demands of for Trig Palin’s birth certificate, for a maternity/paternity test on Trig for the implication that Trig is not Sarah’s son, but her grandson.
That is no newspaper, but I believe that Salon is a magazine that might employ and use journalists.
Mr. D:
“It’s not my job to produce anything”. Pretty much sums up your whole movement.
Terry
“Kos & Andrew Sullivan”
OK and National Review, Red State, and the rest of the right wing have been pushing all of your favorite Obama/Ayers stuff. The simple point is that across the media spectrum there has been far more coverage of Obama/Ayers than the maternity of Trig Palin. Your original assertion is just flat wrong.
Kermit:
“But Rick has produced positive evidence of just how scum-laden and disgusting liberal DFL hacks really are.”
Then go find your blankie and have a good cry. I am not the one who introduced vulgarity to this particular thread.
Actually, RickDFL, what you did was not simply vulgar.
You brought Mr. D’s wife into a discussion, in a most vulgar way, that did not involve her in the least.
You do owe Mr. D an apology for that.
You are more than welcome to refuse, RickDFL. Please, let us know exactly how much character you possess.
Thanks, Troy. But I’m not counting on it happening.
Wow, punch a bully in the nose and he goes running home to mama.
No Rick,
If you punch me in the nose, that’s fine. You punched my wife in the nose. That makes you a coward. You’re dead to me.
RickDFL, you’re way out of line in making lewd claims about someone else’s wife. Way out of line.
What has happened to the word “journalist”? Many seem like tabloid writers! You can’t count on them for the facts or the truth anymore. Their lack of reporting on Obama’s associations with Ayers and Wright shows them to be the sleazy, liberal illuminati, disgusting liberal hacks they really are.