The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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May 7, 2008

Our View: Rigorous journalism still needed

There is no lack of speculation these days on where journalism is going. It’s going online, it’s getting more diffused, and a fair amount of concern has been raised within the traditional news platforms — newspapers and network television news — that a tough business is about to get tougher.

Consumers of news may feel comfortable that the number of news platforms is growing, and there’s nothing to suggest that as more Americans get their news online that there’s anything wrong with that. It may be worth considering, however, what the future of investigative journalism portends as erstwhile large and respected news outlets consider tightening belts in the face of an ever-constricted revenue stream.

A social commentator wondered aloud last weekend on a televised news program that, as major news organizations struggle, online news sites will increase. Her fear was that people will gather more of their information from sites with questionable commitment to fairness and accuracy; in short, that rather than seeking information to inform, consumers will seek information that only confirms already-held opinions.

We’re seeing a lot of that now, and it ought to raise some eyebrows. In a democratic society that depends upon well-informed citizens able to process all sides of an issue before reaching defensible conclusions, many among us tend to find only one side of a story.

The point is not to regret the fact that news traditions are changing. All things change, and journalists are doing their best to adapt to the changing market. But all of us — news gatherers and news consumers alike — should think long and hard about one thing that ought not to change.

What shouldn’t change is the need for investigative journalism, the need to look beyond the superficial and get to the heart of an issue. To expose fraud and waste, and to hold the powerful to high standards. It seems a bit odd (and perhaps a bit self-serving) to worry about the future of investigative journalism here, but some see a trend among news consumers toward fluff and away from meat. If those among us who make news gathering decisions let our guard down and succumb to this trend, it will become more difficult in the new environment to meet our obligations.

Meanwhile, the hot topic in journalism today is “citizen media” — non-journalist postings popular for an inclusiveness and intimacy some see as lacking in the mainstream press. But one wouldn’t assume citizen media is the place to go for stories requiring depth, nuance and rigorous fact-checking.

There is also a renewed call for a more “partisan” press. The problem, however, isn’t that the press isn’t partisan enough, but that — as respected news giants like CBS News, along with major newspapers, cut back — they might also cut back on the kind of dogged unbiased newsgathering techniques that they’d built their foundations upon.

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