Newscoma

I was asked yesterday by a colleague why we needed a conference on media reform.

I spent a few minutes talking about the issue of accuracy in the media and the perceived slant over the last few years from mainstream media regarding Pres. George Bush’s leadership since he took office. I regaled them with tales of media bias throughout the years, sounding sadly like a badly written entry in Wikipedia. (sarcasm, campers.)

But when I got home and started thinking about it, it really is more than that. It’s the contrast between business and entertainment, because news has become entertainment in so many ways.

So where’s the balance? Has there ever been any balance? Remembering the days of yellow journalism regarding the circulation battles in the late 1800’s, so the idea of media reform is not something new.

But let us remember, as I’ve read this around the blogosphere this morning, that we have seen journalism become a weapon recently sometimes controlled by government (Mission Accomplished anyone), and accuracy in journalism is important whether you work at a small paper like mine or if you are the head of Fox News.

Because people deserve the right to know.

But it does come down to business so many times. If you don’t have the ads, then you don’t have the real estate to put in the news. So the choice, and challenge, for editors these days is to make every column inch in a newspaper count.

Money does corrupt. Power does as well, so the message at this conference is very important. A.) Professional journalists are competing with bloggers, who are at times because not confined to the policy of newspapers, breaking biggers stories with, and not always, compelling accuracy. B.) Sometimes this lends itself to remarkable things, other times, not so much but it is a new medium to be reckoned with. C. We need to do better.
This conference is probably one of the most important ones I will go to thus far in my life because finding the balance is important. Making sure that, although print, broadcast and digital media are private industries  many times with a bottom line, that the news is not corrupted by the almighty dollar. That is why the blogosphere is so important. It’s is more passionate about the truth, and quite honestly, I know very few bloggers who make a dime off their efforts.

And there in lies the issue people in news, especially those of us who deal with the bottom line everyday, need to be mindful of.

Newspapers, or at least mine, need to be profitable to survive. But the news needs to be untainted by seeking money to pay for themselves. It’s sometimes frustrating to work on ad sections when there is news out there to be gathered and reported. I think that editorial and sales staffs need to wear each others shoes to understand the myriad of problems both departments go through, and then allow, with trust and faith, that the other side will do their job. Therein, I think they will thrive.

We also need to trust the blogosphere as well. It’s a freight train running down a mountain with no brakes and it is compelling to watch this window of history unfolding before our eyes.

So how do we reform media? I don’t think there are any easy answers here, but I do believe that there is always hope to become better. To be aware of the challenges and face them head on.

Yeah. That’s how I feel today. I’ll be very interested in seeing how I grow from this experience each day in Memphis, what I will learn and what I can put into practical application. I’ll be interested to see how I evolve by the time the conference ends on Sunday and the changes within myself after observing this grassroots movement.

A journey. And I hope I’m self-aware and open enough to get what I need to improve myself.