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April 27, 2003
REVIEWS: Step by step to the moon
If young people aspiring to become journalists, and those who have newly joined this “complex business”, make the effort to struggle through Lynette Sheridan Burn’s Understanding Journalism, they risk ending up baffled and in need of an aspirin.
It’s not that the book doesn’t offer basic guidelines on how to be a good reporter or sub editor, along with interesting insights into a rapidly evolving profession. In fact, Burns conscientiously takes the budding reporter step-by-step up the ladder of his craft; painstakingly exploring and explaining the entire gamut of activity, from gathering information and evaluating news sources to ethics and personal biases.
Her book suffers from two problems. As an Australian journalist and academic Burns naturally focuses on that distant part of the world. And even though her presentation has a global perspective, every now and then you come across alien concepts and examples that jar anglophiles like us. Her references to Bushmen, for instance. The second problem arises from her repeated references to and quotes from a long list of authorities unknown in our region. This not only makes her narrative unnecessarily choppy and jerky, it also burdens the reader with the need to decipher who these utterly unfamiliar authoritative writers are and why they should be heeded.
Starting with a bit of theory, the writer moves on to journalism in action which contains practical instructions on finding, choosing and gathering news, evaluating news sources, constructing news and editing it, followed by how to develop and draft an article. While much of the advice is practical and will help the young reporter to go about his business effectively, there is much that doesn’t apply here and will make him yearn for the facilities and systems available to First World journalists. Demographic profiles of target audiences, surveys and polls of every kind plus a plethora of press releases from every possible news source make digging for news a far less thorny task in the developed regions. A newsroom culture that forces the journalist to keep his employer’s, editor’s and readers’ biases in mind is of course common to every region.
It is difficult to talk about journalism at this time without alluding to the western media’s carefully edited coverage of the horrors of the pitiful Iraq war, particularly since Burns has already described how the Press abroad has long since been brought to heel. She explains that with market-driven journalism having become the norm, the vested interests of the readers and the advertisers are now paramount.
Hence newspapers no longer dare to cover stories “that stray too far from the established prejudices of the day”. To this we may add that in covering the Iraq war, the American media relied on jingoism. Instead of serving as a relatively impartial and dispassionate voice, TV and print people, happily embedded with the US forces, faithfully projected the Pentagon’s and hawkish Rumsfeld’s views. One missed Peter Arnett’s down-to-earth stories of the bombing in Baghdad, broadcast by CNN during father Bush’s war on Iraq more than a decade ago.
I suppose that in keeping with these materialistic times, young journalists today are a pragmatic and cynical bunch, not the idealistic I-want-to-change-the-world type they tended to be in the 50s and 60s. Those who entered the profession earlier filled with hope and focusing on the social good will read with despair Lynette Burns’ account that stories for the Press now tend to be written from only one quite narrow angle and alternative viewpoints are ignored or dismissed outright. News agendas, she says - or quotes — are today influenced by market research.
The old values pertaining to seeing and giving both sides of an issue in the interest of fairness no longer apply. Burns emphasizes that in the modern world those who challenge or confront the preferred image of society are marginalized or not heard.
She says journalists (her focus is on the developed world) now work towards their readers’ comfort zone and the news is constructed or manipulated to reflect a certain world view. She quotes Altschull who in 1984 stated that “while it is possible for journalism to induce positive changes in society, political and economic realities severely circumscribe the potential of journalists to do so.”
There is a lot of emphasis in the book on reflection, and she claims that professionals “think by doing”. She quotes Schon who describes the way journalists reflect in action as “the conversations we have with ourselves.” A quotation from King: by thinking about what we do, we can make better decisions as journalists and provide the basis for a philosophy of journalism. She also quotes herself: learning by doing may be common in journalism education but doing does not guarantee learning. She accentuates the fact that journalists today are most likely to be highly educated middle class people with a politically correct point of view.
“They peddle a commodity called ‘information’ that is marketed to commercial advantage, without reference to the individual’s own reason, sensitivity and commitment.”
The practical aspects of the profession are given in such profuse detail in the second part of the book that no novice reporter, at least in Pakistan, can be expected to pour through this mass of information and not decide to switch to another profession immediately. His or her English too may not be up to it for this is a dense book which purveys basic knowledge in a highly complex academic style. But occasionally one does come across a lively bit of fact such as: Journalists don’t tell people what to think but what to think about. Talking of detail, when the writer takes up the subject of interviews she even lists some basic questions that should be asked. When evaluating news sources she discusses the internet but warns the reader that some of its info may be inaccurate or outdated. As if IT users didn’t know that. Students and beginners if they persevere will find the Editing News chapter very useful as it offers tips on grammar, headline writing, avoiding clichis, etc. Each chapter is followed by exercises and further exercises, further reading and references.
Undoubtedly, any beginner who masters Understanding Journalism is likely to develop into a seasoned journalist.
Understanding Journalism
By Lynette Sheridan Burns
Vistaar/Sage Publications, B-42, Panchsheel Enclave, Post Box 4109, New Delhi-110017, India
Tel: 91-11-2649 1290-7
Email:
marketing@indiasage.com
Website:
www.indiasage.com
ISBN 81-7829-214-9
186pp. Indian Rs240
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