For millennia the issue of journalism and investigative reporting has been fascinating. True journalists dedicated their lives to illuminating injustice, abuse of power, and other controversial and essential topics. While, nowadays, investigative reporting has shifted toward new matters in light of changes in the world, such a field still remains an essential part of journalism. However, when analyzing journalism, one must understand that it is not only a literary field but an art that requires attention to ubiquitous issues and a creative approach.
The problem of journalism history is illuminated in the book by Munson and Warren James Carey: A Critical Reader. According to the authors, “journalism is not only literary art: it is industrial art” (Munson and Warren, 1997, p.92). As a result, it should be analyzed as such, with emphasis on its history. In the introductory part, the authors accentuate that the revered concept of professional journalists, objectivity, would be reinterpreted as little more than a “strategic ritual” in the 1970s (Munson and Warren, 1997, p.80). In this sense, the growing political critique within journalism was a contributing factor to this increasingly critical approach to the analysis of journalism.
Nowadays, it can be said that it is a blessing and a curse that journalistic history is taught in journalism and global communication programs. It has retained the topic, giving it a moral purpose and freedom to select its creative partners freely. However, those that pursue it have far too frequently been cut off from the historical profession as a whole, running their own relatively meager organizations linked to some broad cultural movements but strangely unaware of others (Munson and Warren, 1997). Indeed, journalists sometimes focus on the most common issues, forgetting about not less important ones, which could be life-changing to some communities worldwide. Moreover, the writers believe that rather than just adding more facts, the investigations need to be supplied with new ideas, viewpoints, and insights (Munson and Warren, 1997). This seems to be a rational approach since some materials might illuminate the matter only from one side, and still, there will be a lot of untold information. Additionally, journalism implies using new techniques to deliver material through different lenses.
For example, in Tell the Truth and Run, fundamental issues such as the documented history of the 20th century, freedom of the press, justice and diversity, authority and corruption, civic engagement, and the democratic system are raised. However, the documentary film concentrates on George Seldes, a renowned foreign journalist who spent 80 years working in newspapers. This professional journalist rose to prominence as America’s finest press critic. He was even described as a “crusading critic of the nation’s press” and “an aggressive reporter” (Channel Television Network, 2015, 0:37). The documentary Tell the Truth and Run addresses significant moral, professional, and political issues concerning journalism in the United States via Seldes’ contacts with Pershing, Lenin and Bolsheviks, and Mussolini. The journalist risked his well-being by addressing the topics that concerned the most notorious leaders.
Hence, when analyzing journalism, it is important to understand its history and notable practitioners. Nowadays, it may be claimed that teaching journalistic history in journalism and international communication programs can be a blessing and a curse. Indeed, too many times, those that pursue it have been cut off from the field as a whole. As a suggestion, fresh ideas, opinions, and insights should be provided to the reporting rather than reiterating the same information. Journalism should be seen as not only creative art but an industrial field, wherein one must show a complete understanding of the issue and show it through a different lens.
References
Channel Television Network. (2015). Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American press. Youtube. Web.
Munson, E. S., Warren, C. A. (1997). James Carey: A Critical Reader. University of Minnesota Press.