We both went to the greenery-draped schools. Many of our college friends headed off to be doctors, lawyers, consultants, i-bankers, etc. But we couldn’t think of a single one we knew who even considered being a journalist.
What’s that all about? When did journalism become so disrespected?
For that matter, anyone with an inquisitive frame of mind (check!), a passion for finding the truth (check!), and a good grasp of language (check!) is well suited for journalism. But Dr Hyde and I both became scientists instead. As did most of you readers.
I was prompted to write about this because DrdrA was pointing out some of the dreadful hypocrisies the O'Reillys of the world have gotten caught in lately. But again--why is it that the Daily Show does a better job ferreting these out than any "real" news organization? Why aren't any of my peers working at NBC or CNN and fighting to get some reality on the air?
Yes, the television is owned by corporate overlords with terrible agendas, but the same can be said of the healthcare industry--but we have plenty of doctor friends fighting the good fight.
When I hit a low ebb of fear (as when I see the Right get all excited about joy-oh-joy Sarah Palin being President one day), I often think that I am failing my country by being a scientist. I should be out fighting for everything I care about--by engaging in the political process for real, not just sending O another $100 and writing snarky blog posts.
The only thing that holds me back is that I'm utterly awful at political arguments--I get too angry to continue. Today Advisor opined that we should be drilling in ANWR and off-shore and everywhere else, and it was just hypocritical of the Dems not to. I kept my cool, but barely...
8 comments:
Perhaps you are having a similar identity crisis to mine. Why do we choose to pursue any of these professions? I probably would have been good at any number of things. I just so happen to be a scientist. So do you.
You would probably make a good journalist. Do you think you'd like it more than being a scientist?
In a world where politics often has me wanting to poke my eyes out, I personally feel like I can have more impact trying to cure diseases in the lab than I would up against the spin doctors and other miscellaneous idiots in the news media.
You know, DJMH, I never really considered this point. I know a lot of different people (from high school up through postdoc) in many different lines of work, but I do not know any journalists. Or even anyone who considered journalism!
Does the state of actual news reporting (the decline of newspapers across the country) contribute to this? Could it be that America's exposure to "journalism" is largely (1) sad, local TV news reporting, or (2) hugely partisan national TV/radio news? Maybe it's because our national attention span doesn't lend itself to in-depth researched news pieces.
Luckily (or unluckily), there's enough media outlets since the advent of the internet that everyone can be some kind of journalist.
DITTO for me! I could have gone into forensics and detective work. That's what being a scientist is about to me (all I do is sniff problems out anyway), but I could have easily gone in the detective direction outside the science I do.
I never thought about making an impact in the world in other ways - I only ever saw my abilities applied to science.
In my case, I think outreach activities to middle schools could go a long way in influencing the younger generation - it's something I've been plotting for a few weeks now. I feel a responsibility to do more when it seems like the people around me are doing less (or threatening to blow up the world from the White House). It's the first time in my life that I've felt a social responsibility, but it's also the first time that I am pretty stable (not a poverty stricken student).
Definitely an open question is whether smart folks avoid journalism because it's in such disrepute these days (not always been the case--think Edward Murrow, Walter Cronkite et al); or whether journalism is in disrepute because the only people studying it are named Sarah Palin.
The scumbag bootlicking corporate fucknozzle propagandists in the mainstream media have completely and utterly discredited the profession of journalism. The Founders are turning in the graves at the horrific carnival sideshow that the Fourth Estate has become. These motherfuckers bear more blame than *anyone* for the nightmarish political clusterfuck that our nation has been embroiled in for the last forty years.
If you consider pundit mofos like OLielly to be 'journalists' then every blogger you know who talks out of their ass about politics is a 'journalist'.
Hey schweet, gotta go update my CV.
Hmm, that's not quite what I was trying to get at. I guess my question is this: why are the writers for the Daily Show doing more rigorous "journalism" (catching people in their lies, and calling them out on it) than your average network reporter or anchor?
Physio--But is no one joining the 4th estate because it's damaged, or vice versa? And still--I think healthcare is as fucked up as it comes, but had lots of friends become doctors. Somehow journalism has lost both prestige and interest.
Everyday journalism doesn't make you a lot of money (and very few journalists make it to the big time--it's like banking on becoming a movie star), so there isn't the same payscale attraction as being a doctor. My dad is a journalist, and we've watched how much the newspaper field has changed because of the internet. TV hit it hard enough and now the internet has negated the need for either one as a source for bread-and-butter information.
I think WE, as in us people who write stuff to share things we find out with other people on the internet, are the new type of journalist (like DGT said).
Post a Comment