Ostrich Media

It's been a pretty good couple of weeks in terms of casual conversations blowing up into full-on philosophical debates. First, there was the gender-sex work-science-oppression-empowerment thing from last week. And now, I've been inspired to blather about the role of news media in society (actually, that came up in last week's posts, too).

Before we start, some full disclosure: I am a journalist. Set your bias metres thusly.

A friend suggested last week that the publication I work for should stop writing stories about the sad state of the economy, stories about companies laying off workers, reducing budgets and things like that. His rationale was that, by adding to the endless wave of negativity, media outlets were only adding to, and prolonging the misery. Better, he thought, to write stories of a more positive nature and demonstrate to readers that there is good reason to go on living well and working hard.

I see his point. The economic crisis is, after all, at least partly a crisis of confidence. But my friend is still absolutely, unequivocally wrong about the job of a journalist. Which is to say, a reporter has to report on what happens. If General Motors lays off thousands of workers, that's big news that affects stakeholders ranging from employees to investors to business partners. People may wince as they read about the cuts, but they need to know about them. 

I certainly can't imagine that many reporters out there aren't depressed and bored from constantly writing about this topic. But it is the single most important and widespread issue out there right now. It affects just about every type of publication and individual journalist. If you're a political reporter, you're writing about the terrible economy. Same goes for business and even sports reporters. I'd include entertainment reporters, but if you're an entertainment reporter, you've probably already lost your job.

In other words, a journalist couldn't ignore this issue if he or she tried.

But he or she shouldn't try too hard, because then he or she would be shirking his or her responsibility. Whether reporting on bad news (the economy) or controversial news (for example, the sex research referenced in last week's blog posts), a journalist has no duty protect jobs or stock markets or political ideals or feelings. The only duty is to the truth.