Monday, January 21, 2008

Perhaps history teaches us that journalism is at the crossroads

With all the changes that are currently taking place in the media world,sometimes the past can teach us lessons

According to Howard Owens and something that I agree with

We don’t spend a lot of time talking about our profession’s history, even though history might teach us a good deal about today


The book's:

primary theme is that journalism has evolved in response to changes in society
.

It covers American history of the press and cites

The rise of McCarthysm, the Bay of Pigs and the start of the war in Vietnam were all events that helped create within society a greater sense that the U.S. government, now no longer easily accessible, was not always worthy of trust. For the first time, the press began to take on a watch dog role and investigative reporting was born.


I wonder whether this is indeed the case now though,Howard concludes by asking

society is apparently going through its largest upheaval, especially in terms of how it interacts with media, since at least the 1960s, if not the earliest parts of the 2oth Century.
If that’s the case, should today’s journalist react with “we should keep doing what we’ve always been doing” attitude, or figure out how journalism needs to change to meet new demands and new needs?

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