Chief
12-20-2007, 06:19 AM
See if this reminds you of anyone...
http://www.newmediajournal.us/staff/l_fairchok/12202007.htm
Media Lance Fairchok, Featured Writer
December 20, 2007
“...the liberty of the Press is called the Palladium of Freedom, which means, in these days, the liberty of being deceived, swindled and humbugged by the Press and paying hugely for the deception.” – Mark Twain, From Author's Sketch Book, Nov. 1870
"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed." – Mark Twain
Unfettered arrogance and hypocrisy are the two words that come to mind when I think of professional journalists, particularly when they are commenting on the rising wave of citizen journalism that is assaulting their ivory tower, a citadel of self-congratulation and elitism, of manipulation and deceit. It is a façade really, one that the web empowered citizen more frequently sees through. The legacy press is becoming irrelevant, which is the best thing that could happen to American Democracy in two hundred years. This scares the hell out of the left as they have been working very hard for a very long time to gain preeminence there for their socialist ideology and their vision of what America should be. In an article entitled “Unfettered 'citizen journalism' too risky,” a democrat journalism professor, David Hazinski, captures their attitude perfectly:
“The premise of citizen journalism is that regular people can now collect information and pictures with video cameras and cell phones, and distribute words and images over the Internet. Advocates argue that the acts of collecting and distributing make these people "journalists." This is like saying someone who carries a scalpel is a "citizen surgeon" or someone who can read a law book is a "citizen lawyer." Tools are merely that. Education, skill and standards are really what make people into trusted professionals. Information without journalistic standards is called gossip.” – David Hazinski, associate professor of telecommunications and head of broadcast news at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and former NBC correspondent
Professor Hazinski equates journalism with the practice of medicine and law, an astonishingly self-important thing to say. Luckily, his comments are easy to translate: when he says, “Information without journalistic standards is called gossip” what he means is “information without our filters and our spin is called gossip.” Underlying that assertion is another; Mr. and Mrs. Average Citizen are too stupid to determine the truth or the substance of an issue without the professional journalist. Unfiltered information is too complex for you, information received directly from other citizens does not give you the proper context; you will not make the right analysis. Common citizens cannot think for themselves; let us do your thinking for you, he says, it will be ever so much easier.
This is the nonsense our young journalism students are fed, academic elitism from the left, as is ever the case, to the detriment of our democracy. When Hillary Clinton’s thinly veiled socialism is pointed out, the left acts insulted and outraged. Professor Hazinski will also act outraged when intrepid “citizen journalists” point out he is advocating regulating free speech and limiting the fundamental rights of the citizenry. Yet his words are very clear; he wants unelected press elites to monitor, certify and standardize information the public sees.
“Major news organizations must create standards to substantiate citizen-contributed information and video, and ensure its accuracy and authenticity.”
“They should clarify and reinforce their own standards and work through trade organizations to enforce national standards so they have real meaning.”
“Journalism schools such as mine at the University of Georgia should create mini-courses to certify citizen journalists in proper ethics and procedures, much as volunteer teachers, paramedics and sheriff's auxiliaries are trained and certified.”
Journalism academics hold themselves in very high esteem and expect you to also. They will certify the “proper ethics,” which is the very definition of irony; that the same news organizations that have been caught again and again spinning, manipulating, omitting and shaping the news for monetary or partisan political reasons should create standards. In Professor Hazinski’s mind, they will ensure accuracy and authenticity, though it is very hard to imagine how when they so frequently ignore both.
To enforce a national standard would mean some type of legislative controls, laws to give trade organizations a regulatory function. That would of course give them a method of control over sites and blogs that make the “professional journalists” look inept and biased by exposing their errors, lies and omissions. Taken further it would allow for controls over talk radio, television and cable. See where this is going?
A wise friend of mine once said, “It’s not freedom of speech when you do it for money.” On this issue, truer words were never spoken. Add a “progressive left” political ideology of the type that most certainly comes out of classrooms run by the likes of Professor Hazinski and you see the underlying reason for the professor’s article. Professional journalists are the buggy whip makers of the information age. Technology has left them behind. When the quality of their craft is so easy for the average citizen to assess, when facts are easy to verify, it is no wonder they are losing their relevance. When shoddy standards, ideology and unfounded arrogance become so glaringly obvious, is it hard to understand why so many now view them with distain and rely on citizen journalists for accurate information?
Adding new standards won’t help when so many “professional journalists” never followed the standards they already had, especially when those new standards would be written by those responsible for the current corrupt press culture to begin with. The list of press malfeasance is long, too long to go into here. Our professional journalists have consistently failed us, their excuses and rationalizations no longer carry much weight. The public no longer assumes their credibility. Americans want truth, not nuance and manipulation when it comes to the information we consume. The decisions we make collectively as a nation require it. We cannot ignore the man behind the curtain anymore.
Lance Fairchok is a Featured Writer for The New Media Journal. He is a retired Air Force Intelligence professional with many years of service in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. His travels left him fascinated by the wide differences in human cultural perceptions and how ideas spread in diverse populations. He writes and does research on a variety of subjects to include totalitarian ideologies, radical Islam and press accuracy. He currently teaches and writes on the Emerald Coast of Florida.
:o
http://www.newmediajournal.us/staff/l_fairchok/12202007.htm
Media Lance Fairchok, Featured Writer
December 20, 2007
“...the liberty of the Press is called the Palladium of Freedom, which means, in these days, the liberty of being deceived, swindled and humbugged by the Press and paying hugely for the deception.” – Mark Twain, From Author's Sketch Book, Nov. 1870
"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed." – Mark Twain
Unfettered arrogance and hypocrisy are the two words that come to mind when I think of professional journalists, particularly when they are commenting on the rising wave of citizen journalism that is assaulting their ivory tower, a citadel of self-congratulation and elitism, of manipulation and deceit. It is a façade really, one that the web empowered citizen more frequently sees through. The legacy press is becoming irrelevant, which is the best thing that could happen to American Democracy in two hundred years. This scares the hell out of the left as they have been working very hard for a very long time to gain preeminence there for their socialist ideology and their vision of what America should be. In an article entitled “Unfettered 'citizen journalism' too risky,” a democrat journalism professor, David Hazinski, captures their attitude perfectly:
“The premise of citizen journalism is that regular people can now collect information and pictures with video cameras and cell phones, and distribute words and images over the Internet. Advocates argue that the acts of collecting and distributing make these people "journalists." This is like saying someone who carries a scalpel is a "citizen surgeon" or someone who can read a law book is a "citizen lawyer." Tools are merely that. Education, skill and standards are really what make people into trusted professionals. Information without journalistic standards is called gossip.” – David Hazinski, associate professor of telecommunications and head of broadcast news at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and former NBC correspondent
Professor Hazinski equates journalism with the practice of medicine and law, an astonishingly self-important thing to say. Luckily, his comments are easy to translate: when he says, “Information without journalistic standards is called gossip” what he means is “information without our filters and our spin is called gossip.” Underlying that assertion is another; Mr. and Mrs. Average Citizen are too stupid to determine the truth or the substance of an issue without the professional journalist. Unfiltered information is too complex for you, information received directly from other citizens does not give you the proper context; you will not make the right analysis. Common citizens cannot think for themselves; let us do your thinking for you, he says, it will be ever so much easier.
This is the nonsense our young journalism students are fed, academic elitism from the left, as is ever the case, to the detriment of our democracy. When Hillary Clinton’s thinly veiled socialism is pointed out, the left acts insulted and outraged. Professor Hazinski will also act outraged when intrepid “citizen journalists” point out he is advocating regulating free speech and limiting the fundamental rights of the citizenry. Yet his words are very clear; he wants unelected press elites to monitor, certify and standardize information the public sees.
“Major news organizations must create standards to substantiate citizen-contributed information and video, and ensure its accuracy and authenticity.”
“They should clarify and reinforce their own standards and work through trade organizations to enforce national standards so they have real meaning.”
“Journalism schools such as mine at the University of Georgia should create mini-courses to certify citizen journalists in proper ethics and procedures, much as volunteer teachers, paramedics and sheriff's auxiliaries are trained and certified.”
Journalism academics hold themselves in very high esteem and expect you to also. They will certify the “proper ethics,” which is the very definition of irony; that the same news organizations that have been caught again and again spinning, manipulating, omitting and shaping the news for monetary or partisan political reasons should create standards. In Professor Hazinski’s mind, they will ensure accuracy and authenticity, though it is very hard to imagine how when they so frequently ignore both.
To enforce a national standard would mean some type of legislative controls, laws to give trade organizations a regulatory function. That would of course give them a method of control over sites and blogs that make the “professional journalists” look inept and biased by exposing their errors, lies and omissions. Taken further it would allow for controls over talk radio, television and cable. See where this is going?
A wise friend of mine once said, “It’s not freedom of speech when you do it for money.” On this issue, truer words were never spoken. Add a “progressive left” political ideology of the type that most certainly comes out of classrooms run by the likes of Professor Hazinski and you see the underlying reason for the professor’s article. Professional journalists are the buggy whip makers of the information age. Technology has left them behind. When the quality of their craft is so easy for the average citizen to assess, when facts are easy to verify, it is no wonder they are losing their relevance. When shoddy standards, ideology and unfounded arrogance become so glaringly obvious, is it hard to understand why so many now view them with distain and rely on citizen journalists for accurate information?
Adding new standards won’t help when so many “professional journalists” never followed the standards they already had, especially when those new standards would be written by those responsible for the current corrupt press culture to begin with. The list of press malfeasance is long, too long to go into here. Our professional journalists have consistently failed us, their excuses and rationalizations no longer carry much weight. The public no longer assumes their credibility. Americans want truth, not nuance and manipulation when it comes to the information we consume. The decisions we make collectively as a nation require it. We cannot ignore the man behind the curtain anymore.
Lance Fairchok is a Featured Writer for The New Media Journal. He is a retired Air Force Intelligence professional with many years of service in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. His travels left him fascinated by the wide differences in human cultural perceptions and how ideas spread in diverse populations. He writes and does research on a variety of subjects to include totalitarian ideologies, radical Islam and press accuracy. He currently teaches and writes on the Emerald Coast of Florida.
:o