While doing our readings for July 22, "The News Media's Woman Problem", I found this amazing quote by Carl Sessions Stepp, AJR's senior contributing editor, who teaches at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.
"Journalist are followers not leaders, observers rather than agents of change, willing to edge toward upsetting the status quo but soon settling safe near the middle."
What do you all think of this quote? Agree or disagree?
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
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I was struck by this quote as well. It seems to me that journalists like to think of themselves as voices of change, but this quote says the exact opposite.
ReplyDeleteJournalists, while important in conveying information and spreading it to as many people as possible, often just observe rather than initiate change. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. By being such keen observers, journalists inform readers about what is going on around them, and even if they don't change it, they can instill in people the desire to change something that is occuring that bothers them.
I, too, was shocked by this comment, however I'm not sure if I'm reading wrong.
ReplyDeleteI believe Stepp was making an inference on what Rivers was trying to suggest in her book. Whether it was his view or Rivers it didn't matter to me at the moment. I immediately decided to object, and here is my stance on that sentence:
I believe journalists are most definitly leaders in portraying important information our society would not be able to get EFFECTIVELY from anyone else. They do observe but they change the way something could be looked at so people can understand. Journalists have the option of making their own voice most of the time, and that is why I deeply believe they are true leaders.
I strongly diagree with the idea that journalists "settle safe near the middle" when it comes to telling a story. A prime example of a journalist who does just the opposite is CNN's Soledad O'Brien. Her coverage on "Black in America" went deep into the lives of Blacks and she didn't settle for simply digging up obvious facts.
That is just my opinion, but I would love to speak with Professor Stepp and clear some things up since he teaches where we are currently learning.
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ReplyDeleteI agree in the sense that journalists are observers. However, I think journalists are leaders since they inform people about current issues.
ReplyDeleteI think that the readers are the followers because they are dependent on journalists for the news.
I completely agree with this quote. The job of journalists is to convey important information and news to the public, therefor; they must observe what they see happening around them in order to write an article informing the public.
ReplyDeleteI believe this quote because I think Journalist are followers because most of them dont write their own stories, they just piggy-backed off other sources and confirm the information.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you Brooke, because journalists are paid to follow what the interest of the public is; their job is to serve the people by following what current issues are and following what the people want in regards to the importance the news they've gathered holds for their audience.
ReplyDeleteI still strongly believe journalists are leaders, and maybe thats just because I want them to be :)
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, they are the people that get the information out first most of the time, and that has to have some sort of leadership quality. I believe leader don't neccessarily have to be changers; it really depends on how you define a leader.
Can anyone else back me up with my opinion?