Journalism under pressure
Honesty and respect will regain public's trust

By Kelley McLandress
J-School Web reporter

Deborah Potter

Journalists used to be respected and trusted, but now they are both disliked and mistrusted, a  “crisis not for journalism, but for democracy, ”said a former television correspondent who now runs a journalism training center.

"I think what’s happened to the news media over the past quarter century should matter to all of us, because it strikes at the heart of what makes our country great,” said Deborah Potter, who gave the School of Journalism’s 48th Dean Stone Lecture on April 14.

Challenges for journalism include declining viewership of nightly news programs, increased economic pressures on media companies to maintain high stock prices, and the erosion of journalistic accuracy.

Potter, executive director of NewsLab, a training and research center for journalists, started her career more than 30 years ago as a “glorified go-fer” at a TV station in Washington, D.C.  She later produced the noon news, and eventually worked in New York for CBS News in radio and then in television.           

As a reporter, she went to China with Ronald Reagan and reported from the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea and from the beaches of Normandy on the 40th anniversary of D-Day. She’s visited every state in the country.

While journalism is the only profession specifically protected by the U.S. Constitution, “the protection provided by the First Amendment is under siege,” said Potter. 

Results from the latest annual Freedom Forum survey troubled Potter; 42 percent of Americans said the news media in this country have too much freedom, she noted.  Forty-one percent said newspapers should not be allowed to freely criticize military strategy and performance.

“Younger people are even harsher critics,” she said.  In a national survey of high school students, only half said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.

Potter noted that in 2003, the government spent $6.5 billion to create 14 million new classified documents.  A coalition, www.openthegovernment.org, called it “the biggest jump in secrecy for at least a decade,” she said.

Potter mentioned Jim Taricani, a TV reporter in Providence, R.I., who was found in contempt of court for refusing to tell a judge where he got a videotape of a top city official accepting a bribe.

While journalists should be telling the public the truth, mistrust gets in the way.

“When people don’t trust the media, they’re not likely to make much of a fuss when journalists are punished for reporting the news or denied access to information,” said Potter.  “When you don’t like the messenger, it’s easy to forget what really matters is the message.”

But, she conceded, she’s not surprised the public holds journalists in low esteem.

“To many people, journalism ethics sounds like an oxymoron along the lines of ‘military intelligence’ or ‘jumbo shrimp,’ ” she said.

Citing a Gallup Organization survey, Potter said that in 2004, most people said journalists have lower ethical standards than nurses, grade school teachers and auto mechanics.

“Journalists did rank ahead of lawyers, advertisers and used car salesmen,” she said.  “But that’s small consolation. Only one in five people said they considered journalists to have high ethical standards.”

What is the solution?

First, journalists need to recognize that these problems matter.

“Their relationship with the news is frayed and it needs mending,” she said.  Her advice: Journalists need to regain the public’s trust by covering important news, stop spending money on packaging and hype, and use graphics to educate, not just attract viewers.

Don’t slap an “exclusive” or “breaking news” label on stories that don’t measure up, she said.

“Bottom line,” said Potter, “journalists need to demonstrate that they’re more concerned with getting a story right than with getting it first.”

Second, she said, journalists need to treat people with respect – both the people they cover and the audience.

At the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash., editors have ordered webcasting equipment so they can webcast the morning and afternoon news meetings.This, said Potter, is to encourage readers to interact with the newspaper about choices the paper makes.

Quoting the Spokesman’s media editor, Ken Sands, Potter said, “This is not meant to abdicate our decision-making to readers, but to include them in the conversation…to create an atmosphere in which news is truly a conversation.”

Third, journalists need to explain what they do and why they do it, said Potter.  That’s the lesson to be learned from the case of Eason Jordan, the top CNN news executive who resigned under pressure earlier this year, she said.

Jordan made some comments about the U.S. forces in Iraq targeting journalists and killing 12.  Those comments were supposedly off the record, said Potter, but they wound up on the Internet.

The story became what Potter called “blogger fodder” on hundreds of sites, while CNN was pummeled with public complaints.

“It’s hard to claim a comment was taken out of context when you don’t provide any proof,” she said.  And while it may be easy to blame what she called the “new-fangled phenomenon of blogs” for Jordan’s demise, “some of the fault belongs to a more old-fashioned problem – network arrogance,” she said.

In the case of the “60 Minutes” Bush National Guard story, Potter said a quick apology by CBS would have done wonders.

“A little humility could have minimized the damage to the news division’s reputation and to the individuals who wound up losing their jobs,” she said.

The public has a role to play here, too, she said.

“If you are dissatisfied with the performance of the news media, let them know,” she advised the audience. “Don’t accept newspapers stuffed with fluff and newscasts crammed with crime. Speak up, and vote with your remote.”

Finally, Potter reminded the aspiring journalists in the audience to look for mentors.

“And know what you stand for when you enter the newsroom,” she said.

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