MMMM 484 --- The purpose of journalism

     The longer an individual is in a career, the more danger there is of losing sight of what exactly it is you are supposed to be doing.

     I heard a nice reminder from the Editor of The New Yorker in an interview on the NPR Program Fresh Air. David Remnick told Terri Gross:

"Journalism, some huge percentage of it, should be devoted to putting pressure on power, on nonsense, on chicanery of all kinds and if that's going to invite a lawsuit, well, bring it on."

     And that means reporters are not buddies with the people they are covering, and with the PR people whose job, by the way, is to protect those same people.

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     Newsrooms should reflect the communities they cover. It's not that a white reporter can't fairly cover an African-American racial story--or vise versa--but a diverse newsroom brings a sensitivity to the coverage.
     USA Today reported this week about the lack of gender diversity in college journalist classrooms!

Women made up two-thirds of the student body enrolled in bachelors and masters degree programs during the fall 2013 semester, according to the 2013 Annual Survey of Journalism and Mass Communication Enrollment, the latest year available for the data.

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular, longstanding feature of TimLennox.com.]