A post on how the public views the craft of reportage, this time in response to the venerable Jack Cahill. He was saying how he's never had to wipe spit off his face after telling someone he was a journalist (OK, my words, not his). My point was that people like journos. What they don't like is The Media.
I agree with much of what Jack says below. The only negative
reaction I've ever had personally when I've told people I'm a
journalist has been from politicians, and they were kidding (I think).
But
I also think there's a difference between how people see individual
journalists and how they see The Media (ooh, scary beast!).
I
also think when it comes to asking people about their trust and
credibility of the media, one must ask them if they trust any
particular outlet/journalist more than another, and then find out --
either directly or indirectly, or perhaps both -- whether that
assignment of credibility is due to the fact that the outlet/journalist
confirms the person's worldview.
The world is becoming more splintered. The "credibility" problem might just be, at least in part, a reflection of that.
Rick
Salutin wrote a column in the Globe some time ago (damn, I wish I could
find it!) on one philosopher's argument that people seek out news that
conforms to their views, which Salutin saw as a bracing alternative to
Chomsky's critique.
From my reading of Canadian journalism
history, some of our craft's heavy hitters in the 1960s and earlier
used to help cabinet ministers and prime ministers write speeches one
day and then go out and report on them the next.
But the public didn't know about that back then, did they?
I
wonder to what extent credibility problems stem in part from a more
informed and media-savvy public. However, even if we account for that,
there are still many ways the industry is hurting itself.
Bill Doskoch
On vacationhttp://billdoskoch.blogware
PS
to David Akin: If it's the Ross Howard I'm thinking of, he could be a
former Globe and Mail journalist who once graced the parliamentary
bureau
On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 14:14:48 -0500, Jack Cahill <2jackcahill@rogers.com> wrote:
>
The discussion about the alleged disrespect and declining influence of
journalists has been interesting and worthwhile, but much too negative.
>
I'm an old guy now but I spent more than 45 years in the business,
struggling all the time to remain a reporter and writer because that's
where the importance and fun was. Now, in my retirement people don't
shun me or spit at me when I pass by. On the contrary they tell me they
envy me for having had such an interesting life. Some even claim to
remember some of my articles or books and say they they admired my work.
>
Just now, before I started writing this I said goodbye at the door to
an electrician who had installed a new fan in the kitchen.
> He said: "Your wife told me you were a journalist. That must have been interesting. I envy you."
> Then he went on to discuss George Bush and the American election at enormous length.
>
He didn't say: "I want to get the hell out of here. I don't want have
anything to do with a crummy journalist." Exactly the opposite.
>
>
And, as Tony Westell says, Canadian journalism has improved greatly
since he and I started here in the late 1950s. Westell did an
apprenticship as a reporter in Britain before he arrived in Canada and
I did a cadetship in Australia. But in Canada there was no training at
all. Journalists just happened. And despite this there were some very
good ones. Gee, now we have journalism schools.
> In those days
we had to write in cablese ("Upstick job arcewards) to save pennies on
the penny a word press rate. I had a colleague who filed a story from
New Guinea by carrier pigeon. Now communication, the main part of our
business, is instantaneous and cheap.
> We've improved. We still
have a way to go and the profs are pointing a way, though dismally. I
would hope they still manage to teach their lucky students that
journalism is a good, honourable and interesting game to be in. It was
for me.
> Jack Cahill
I filed a later post in response to an observation by Anthony Westell:
The period I was thinking predates Mr. Westell's arrival in Ottawa -- and certainly, I never came across anything associating his name with such practices. But alas, I'm on holidays and can't provide a specific reference right now. Bill Doskoch On vacation http://billdoskoch.blogware.com > From: "Anthony Westell" <awestell@sympatico.ca> > Date: 2004/12/17 Fri PM 04:38:00 EST > To: "CAJ-list" <caj-list@eagle.ca> > Subject: Re:Slamming Miller > > Bill Doskoch writes: "From my reading of Canadian journalism history, some of our craft's > heavy hitters in the 1960s and earlier used to help cabinet ministers and prime ministers write speeches one day and then go out and report on them the next." > I was in the Ottawa Gallery from 1964 onwards and never heard of that happening, but maybe I was naive -- Tony Westell