When I was first hired as CBS News technology analyst in 1999, I remember thinking what an honor it is to be working for the news organization that Walter Cronkite helped build. CBS, and indeed, the entire media landscape, have gone through big changes since Cronkite retired in 1981, but the basic principals he brought to news coverage remain intact. Journalists--and I include bloggers as well--need to be honest and accurate and--whenever possible--serve as an eye witness to unfolding events. New media journalists have a lot to learn from Cronkite.
I've heard it said over and over that today's journalists and bloggers are working in a more tightly compressed time environment thanks to modern technology. But the Internet and cable TV didn't invent the need for the immediate recitation of the news.
Cronkite was on the air live during many of our most important events. He certainly didn't have time to sit back and analyze the significance of the JFK assassination as he brought the tragic news of the president's death--as it unfolded--into America's living rooms. His ring-side coverage of the space program was often real-time. When former President Lyndon Johnson died in 1973, Cronkite was on the phone and on the air at the same time, reporting the news as it was being told to him by Johnson's press secretary. It can't get more real time than that.
Point of view
Cronkite was first a reporter who, for the most part, didn't opine about the news. But that doesn't mean that he had no point of view. During World War II, he was a staunch supporter of the Allied cause. As NASA officials and former astronauts have reported, he didn't just cover the space program, he was its champion. The day Neil Armstrong stepped on moon, his exclamation, "oh boy" summed up his pride and excitement. And there was deep--and appropriate--emotion as he told the nation of the President Kennedy's death.
In almost all situations, Cronkite reported the news without expressing his opinion, but he wasn't afraid to interpret what he learned from his 1968 reporting trip to Vietnam. After he returned to New York, he proclaimed the war unwinnable, telling the nation--and the president--"it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could." As Bob Schieffer pointed out on Face the Nation, one difference between Cronkite's 1968 proclamation and much of today's opinion journalism is that Cronkite witnessed the war first hand, "he took the time to go and find out for himself before he took that position."
Lessons for creators and consumers of online news
So, what does Cronkite's career mean for new media journalists? It means that we still have the responsibility to base what we say on facts. And even those of us who are expected to give opinions and analysis have something to learn from "the most trusted man in America." It's OK for commentators, bloggers and talk-show hosts to express an opinion, but it's not OK to base it on speculation and innuendo or to be unfair or demeaning of those you cover, even if you disagree with them. Cronkite might have practiced his career in the 20th century, but what he stood for as a journalist still stands.
Today's media environment also puts more responsibility on those who consume the news. In an era when the media goes way beyond those three trusted networks and local papers, it's up to everyone to be just a bit more critical of what they read, hear and see. Consider the source and weigh the facts. We no longer have Walter to assure us, "That's the way it is."
The event was a bit of a culture clash between the Americans and the mostly European and Asian journalists in the audience. To a person, the Americans were pessimistic about the future of print and at least somewhat optimistic about blogging and online journalism.
While none of us predicted that print will disappear any time soon, we all agreed that the future of print publishing is looking pretty murky. But several Europeans who spoke up had a different perspective. More than a few were somewhat bullish about printed newspapers, pointing out that many European cities still have multiple competing papers at a time when American newspapers are facing enormous challenges. The Rocky Mountain News recently shut down, and many other U.S. newspapers teeter on bankruptcy.
Even papers not at imminent risk of folding, including the venerable New York Times, are coping with fewer employees, fewer subscribers and fewer advertisers. Some problems of American papers can be attributed to the current economic climate. But even after the recovery, papers will have major challenges thanks to the ever-rising cost of printing and their ever-shrinking share of ad dollars. Having to compete with Internet Web sites for display advertising dollars is challenging enough, but competing with Craigslist and other free or low-cost sites has taken an enormous toll on the once-lucrative classified advertising business.
The European papers also have their challenges, but the Internet hasn't yet had the same impact as it has in the United States. But it's only a matter of time before my overseas colleagues start to face the realities that U.S. print journalists are dealing with now.
But the news business is not about print, it's about information. It doesn't really matter whether you read the news on paper, on a computer screen, on a mobile phone, on a Kindle, or on an as-yet unavailable technology. However the news is consumed, what's important is that there remains a cadre of talented, honest, and enterprising journalists to dig up facts, dispel myths, and keep powerful people in check.
What's sad about the current state of the newspaper industry is that there are now fewer people to do this important work. Some say that's OK because the bloggers will pick up the slack. But a lone wolf opining on a blog is not the same thing as a newsroom full of reporters and editors with the resources and experience to shine the light of truth on the often murky world of government and business. While there are plenty of blogs focused on national and global issues, there are relatively few dedicated to local topics. Someone has to keep an eye on mayors, city councils, police, school districts, and other local services.
There are still TV and radio stations, of course. But while some stations have excellent reporters and investigative units, it's no secret that many people working in broadcasting rely on newspapers and wire services for ideas and even some of the basic facts that make up their stories. I know that firsthand. Even though I do my own fact-checking, hardly a day goes by that I don't look at Web sites with copy from The Associated Press, Reuters, and several U.S. and overseas newspapers to find topics for my CBS News and KCBS radio segments.
Eventually, our economic troubles will abate. Let's hope that competent news organizations--however they deliver the product--survive and find the resources to flourish. Given our collective hunger for truth, I'm optimistic that will happen. I'm just not sure how.
Podcast: Listen to Tom Merritt and Larry Magid discuss their experience with European journalists.
Listen now: Download today's podcast
It's hard to find an American print journalist who doesn't also publish online, and most seem to now accept that blogging is here to stay. After witnessing the folding of the of the Rocky Mountain News and the print editions of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer along with struggles at other papers, it seems as if just about everyone realizes that the economics of print are--to say the least--challenging.
But at an international technology conference on the island of Malta (in the Mediterranean, roughly halfway between Europe and Africa), CBS News and CNET technology analyst Larry Magid and CNET Executive Editor Tom Merritt came across some European and Asian technology journalists who felt a lot more secure about the future of print and more skeptical of online publishing than their American counterparts.
Tom and Larry talk about the audience reaction to their blogging panel and give some pointers on how it's possible to be both a blogger and a good journalist.
Listen now: Download today's podcast
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