Journalists have made and uncovered many dramatic stories through the ages: Traditional news to tell us what is (really) going on, clever and insightful commentary, pure info and revealing the truth, digging out crimes and cover-ups and many more, all investigative and independent.
Journalists have lost faith in themselves lately, and they have lost their independence, and financing too. Good old fashioned journalism where the original truth is shown is now rare as the complexity of the world has been increasing. This is not satisfactory. We need independent, courageous quality journalism. Society often needs a qualified voice to balance views, to ferret out hidden views, to show deceit. Deeply seen this has to do with how society works – are things correct, legal, transparent.
The old business models based on advertising has fallen. New ones are needed. It will take time to find these. New media are materializing.
Journalists should find and write about lack of wisdom, lack of courage and coherence, criminal activity, find new coherences, see developments and trends, possibilities, start us thinking.
They must work in institutions with independence, capacity of men/women and intelligence, long term thinking so that they can find genuine news and challenge misdeeds or bad thinking and doing, do follow-up work long term. This is needed on a local level, nationally and internationally.
So in the name of a truly good society we need journalists that can see what is right and tell us about it. We need people and institutions and we must be willing to pay for these services.
Do your bit by showing preference for media like this and pay some where you find it.
Tags: journalist