Journalism of the Founders - Essay Example

Journalism is the field associated in equal measure with the masses, the rulers and the opinion builders. A journalist is supposed to take a judicious view of the facts, and the happenings around him/ her. Journalistic writings can broadly be divided into two categories, reporting of the happenings and editorial comments. The editorial comments are the one’s which comes out with the reflections of the society. Such writings have the potential of bringing about a change in the society. It could be argued that truthful reporting leaves no scope for adding opinions, lest it be called yellow journalism. But, the journalists and editors too are part of the society. They have a responsibility to highlight the wrongs, illegal activities and excesses being committed against the society, by some powerful people. Going through the articles it is more than apparent that American Revolution was indeed influenced by the writings at that time. In fact, it won’t be an exaggeration to say that the writings developed the urge in revolutionaries for freeing themselves from unjustified occupation. Thomas Jefferson aptly acknowledged the contribution of Tom Paine for his critical role in ‘propelling the American colonists towards independence from Great Britain’. Journalists too are human beings and they too have political leanings. History testifies that, there have been numerous attempts to make use of the newspapers and media on pure political considerations, but the impact have never been so high as to bring about a monumental change. This shows that the journalistic writings alone are not considered the final statement of truth. In fact, carrying through such imaginary and untenable arguments has become much more difficult in today’s times. For example, when in December 2001, Marc Herold came out with the figure of 3767 as the number of people killed after the American action on Afghanistan, it was immediately contested by more blogs by other realistic figures, which was around 1000. This goes on to display that the society goes into an evaluation mode, compares the writings with contemporary situation and if the issue is found to be sensible one, it gives shape to an uprising. Publications like the ‘Journal of Occurrences’ and Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense’ and ‘Crisis’ provided a window of hope to the people oppressed by the colonial powers. Such publications were used as discussion forums by the people. Comparing such publications with the present times led by the IT era, blogging seems to be the forum for people to come out with their opinions/ anger a particular set of people and circumstances. The major difference being the speed for information exchange and the number of people whose views can be accommodated on the pages. Earlier, the information used to take days/ weeks and months to travel from one place to another, but the internet has made possible the information exchange at a speed of light. Though the media landscape has undergone a sea-change since the times of the American Revolution, yet the basic concept remains similar. In today’s media rich environment, journalism, the profession, has acquired newer dimensions. Be it the coverage of war on Iraq and Afghanistan or the hidden camera sting operations, more value addition has taken place in the traditional form of journalism. Adverse circumstances appear to be the basic breeding ground for journalistic excellence. During the occupation of American land, the French and British soldiers exhibited outrageous behavior and resorted to brutalities against women, which led to simmering discontent, further fueled by the writings from the likes of Tom Paine, Sam Adams etc. This had definite contribution towards shaping the revolution. Journalistic writings have the ability to read pulse of the people, and after gathering the realistic feedback, the writings help in generating a debate amongst larger section of masses. Not only the printed publications, but any media with a mass appeal like poets, writers, journalists, singers, drama artists etc. also play a crucial role in giving vent to the voice of the society. Unlike today’s IT era, when blogging, internet broadcasting/ webcasting has made the interaction more convenient and discreet, during earlier times there was also a danger of being tormented while assembling at one point. Therefore, leaflets and journalistic writings were the only available means for reliable information exchange. In fact, today the race for being the first in breaking the story has made the media scene little complicated, as it leaves little room for being patient on camera. As a result rhetoric and emotions have also been inculcated as a component of journalism. Today the media seem to have considered it a solemn duty to be in the role of reforming the politics, the bureaucracy and the society in general. At times this zeal results in awkward situations for the media houses. Like police and intelligence agencies, journalists too have their own sources of information and at times the media appears to be one up on the security agencies. While the security agencies are still on the look out of the international Al Qaeda terrorist Bin Laden, many of his interviews/ statements have appeared on the media. This points out the importance of the media for this section of the society as well. In fact, some such groups have been effectively using all available channels of media for spreading their kind of message. Journalistic writings also provide an emotional bonding amongst different cohesive groups. Though journalism is considered a profession with skills requiring enough training, but the blogging phenomenon have given rise to many impromptu writers and journalists in the media landscape. Such writers were forced by the circumstances to come out with the kind of web-blogs, which were appreciated by the media. For example Salam Pax, a pseudonymous young gay writer from Iraq, posted his heart out about the situation of Iraq in the form of blogs, that too at a time when media entry into the country was strictly restricted. His blogs were appreciated by the world community and today, he is writing columns for ‘The Guardian’. Some other notable and respected bloggers like Paul Palubicki (sgtstryke.com), Dr Frank (doktorgrank.com), Bjorn Staerk (http://bearstrong.net/warblog/index.html) etc. have been identified in the article as worthy contributors to journalistic writings. Blogging is today more than scribbling one’s thoughts, as it provides an opportunity to write, edit, design, and publish the editorial products to be read and responded by millions of people from all over the world. Therefore, it is unlikely that someone would deliberately try to mislead the blogger community, as it would result in angry outbursts from all over. Well, such writings can be used to carry forward product publicity or a media campaign in one’s favor, but the blogger community appears to be supportive of ethical considerations only. Therefore, this form of writing too is definitely contributing its bit towards journalistic excellence. Read More