Kabasares: Journalism - an honorable behavior

Saturday, June 4, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO, California -- I recently attended a seminar on campus news writing by high school seniors who had expressed interest in pursuing a career in journalism. Most of them were top-ranking staff members of their respective newspapers. I was with two other journalists who sat as resource persons. In the course of the discussion, and questions (by students) and answers (by resource persons) period, I gradually got a glimpse of what most students think about the media today, what they'd like to do when they'll be writing for a living as journalists. Here are a few of their questions and, of course, a recollection of our answers to them. It did not surprise me that the second question was about money.

Q: What can you advise students who are considering a career in journalism?

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Cris: Go for it! A degree in journalism gives you the unique opportunity to work for a wide variety of organizations - radio, newspapers, trade magazines, television, advertising agencies, government, and just about any institutions that need people with formal education in communication. "Journalism is a form of honorable behavior involving the reader and reporter," that's what the distinguished reporter Martha Gelhorn says about the profession.

Q: What can you tell people about you being a journalist?

Cris: I'm held at a higher standard of accuracy, responsibility, fairness and reliability in terms of my stories; when writing news report, my only agenda is truth in the context of the facts I have collected and verified.

Q: Why is it that journalists "blow up" stories out of small issues?

Cris: A journalist who "magnifies" a story for the sake of cheap sensationalism or in TV lingo, luridness - betrays his calling. Journalists look deep into events that hit the scene and then discover that in essence, there were other facts that on their own enlarge what was initially a "small item." That's how stories sometimes over blow its first impact! The true journalist does not "blow up" the news by whim. "It's the facts, only the facts," a popular TV detective has the habit of saying.

Q: What was the most challenging assignment you ever had and why?

Cris: I covered the war in Vietnam three times over a period of six years in the 60s. I was young, just out of college, and still seeking for my space in the world. It was not so much that it was about war I was writing about, but there were its historical dimensions, its complexities and the historic struggle of the Vietnamese people for freedom that made coverage there by any journalist a truly challenging one.

Q: What's up in journalism today?

Cris: Well, the last half of the 20th century saw the spawning of modern information technology that sped up the movement of communication from one medium to another. The changes are revolutionary and mind-boggling, it's not stopping here; we now have what journalism ideologues call the new media and it has changed the way we read and listen to news. The internet (the blog, the Facebook, the web sites, etc...) turns anyone who's interested in information to be his or her own reporter writing about his/her universe for a specific circle of readers. Many dailies have improved their online editions. Arianna Huffington's site, The Huffington Post, attracted 24.3 million visitors in 2010, five times as much traffics the new media rivals, more than The Washington Post, and USA Today, observes Newsweek. The site is expected to earn over $30 million this year, Newsweek added.

Q: Will there be a time when the journalist (the human being) is removed from the equation of newsmaking?

Cris: No, never, in my view. What's interesting to observe is the close alliance that developed between technology and the reporter during the past century. It has brought reporting to a new threshold never before reached. Technology provides the incredible speed, ease, and transparency we need to understand events. Another thing - the on camera consultants who analyze news and discuss their impact give us a big lens to view what would affect us and our community. And the great lengths and expense the media goes to find out what's happening in the world must necessarily involve a human being. Sad to say - only media giants in equally rich countries can foot the bills for these ventures.

Q: What bothers you about journalism today?

Cris: A number of different things. I'd start with sloppy writing. I can't believe how some reporters mess up stories or miss the opportunity to write good ones. I don't know if it's lack of training, lack of motivation, or incompetence, but you spot them right there in the news pages. In this business readers deserve the best. Another thing that bothers me, it's increasingly becoming familiar - the single but devastating indictment against journalists, the misbehaving ones, that's who. Like other professions, journalism has its own villains.

Resource Person # 2: Reading news reports that's so crammed up with long and complicated figures that it reads like an oceanography report.

Q: As a journalist what intimidated you?

Cris: A lot. I assure you that. I can't be very specific now, but on the other hand, I can't always think of what intimidates me in my job and my life, or I'd be ineffective.

Q: Still writing?

Cris: Yes, every now and then, that's when time permits. I've written for a living most of my life, so it's one of the few things I'll always love to do. The deadline pressure isn't there anymore, but the interest definitely is.

Q: What about success, your own personal successes in the course of your profession?

Cris: If I have any, I'd like somebody else to relate them. But one thing I'm proud to say is that I have honestly lived by the tenets of journalism.

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Cris D. Kabasares writes a column for a New York newspaper.