Time to save the world.

I’m not sure how I feel about this thing we call the future. I’m on the fence on whether I should be looking for a new job, or embracing the new news. So, I’ve decided to look at some of the issues of this changing media landscape and throw in my two cents.

1. People have a growing distrust in the media.

As we discussed in Wednesday’s class, newspapers received the lowest score for trustworthiness in a poll taken by the Journalism School. Immediately, I recalled “The News about the News” and a passage explaining that most TV news shows and radio broadcasts get their stories directly from newspapers. So why do people think we’re the liars?

The answer is ignorance. I honestly don’t think people understand what it takes to be a journalist, a good journalist. People do not know the difference between good journalists and bad ones. They look at Anderson Cooper and that lady that hosts ET, and put them on the same level. There is a lack of understanding of the media. A lot of people are surprised to see the size of a newsroom or the paycheck of a reporter. Most of this lack of knowledge about the craft of journalism is our own fault. As the authors point out, the media’s reluctance to cover itself creates a vacuum of knowledge about the industry in society.

While they distrust us, they also expect us to not make mistakes. But, hey, we’re human and it happens. A great example of this is the paper where I work, the Jefferson City News Tribune. The editorial assistant was telling me that people love to call in when they get some thing wrong. It’s fun for them to catch the “all knowing” newspaper in a mistake. I think this stems from the point Downe and Kaiser made about people looking to news providers when they need answers. If know-it-all gets it wrong, its fun to point that out.

2. “Newspaper people”

On the first day of class in newspaper management, my professor, Jim Sterling, told us, “As long as we consider ourselves information people and not just newspaper people, we’ll be okay.” That was the most relieving and inspiring thing I’ve heard at the Journalism School. It’s so simple. Worry about getting information to people, not about what form it’s in.

As someone who “saved” her high school paper and loves the feel of ink on her hands, saying that hurts me. I love newspapers. “The morning miracle,” as Downe and Kaiser call it, is what made me want to be a journalist. However, I understand that in order for my beloved paper to be around, it needs a face-lift. I’m willing to make the changes so I can be better suited to do what I studied four years to do: serve the public, keep them safe educate them. That leads me to issue number three.

3. The public’s perception of a smaller need for traditional news

People think they don’t need us, but they do. Newspapers are the first draft of history. On Sept. 12, everyone wanted a paper. I have three, the New York Times, The Palm Beach Post and The Boca Raton News. That’s not the only example. Obituaries may run online, but it’s not the same. It’s not as official. The idea of cut pieces of newsprint pressed between Bible pages is much more romantic than computer printouts. People want to see their kids in the paper. That is what’s going to keep newspapers in business.

Secondly, let’s not forget it is the media’s job to tell people what to care about. I think we are getting too worried about giving people the news they want. They don’t know it’s news until WE say it is. People know, for sure, that something is important if the paper’s got it plastered on the front page.

4. The drive to increase profits is bringing quality down

This is by far the most frustrating thing about today’s newspapers. They’re owned by people who never worked for a paper a day in their life. Reading the story about the Mercury News made me sick. In order to get a significant amount of people to continue buying anything, you have to make the product better; the only way to do that is by putting money into it. The corporate idea of spending the least time and money and getting the most profit doesn’t work in journalism. That conflict goes back to issue number one. People do not understand the effort and hard work it takes to put out a good newspaper. And now, those people run papers…nice.

So I still can’t decide if I’m optimistic or pessimistic. I think I’m just a realist. This is happening, so let’s stop sitting around and complaining, and do something! As Prof. Steffens said in class “We all got into this to save the world, right?” I did and now it’s time to save our world.