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Top-level
 I'm also autistic so I almost never go to social events 😅 I think a basic function of a journalist is to serve their audience and their interests. Likewise I follow @jayrosen_nyu in defining journalism as 'truth-seeking' investigation or explanation rather than 'power-seeking' political or marketing speech. So I see a journalist having two loyalties - to the audience and to the truth. Even bad journalists admit this by the ways they try to pretend to be following this ideal. 6 comments
The key here is to be truth *seeking*. I'm not claiming you can actually find the truth, and sit on it and tell everyone they are wrong I'm saying defining your task as a journalist as the deliberate *seeking* of the truth imposes a kind of direction that gives a kind of information-hygiene that protects you from many of the worst abuses that media can commit.  @Loukas @jayrosen_nyu From that perspective, it is indeed a valid definition, which arises another problem namely how many modern journalists (at least mainstream media journalists) actually seeking the truth, haha @oleg_ru you can likewise ask how many police really protect and serve, and how many doctors are healers - but it is this mission which gives the profession any legitimacy in society:) And I think it's interesting to see how even journalists who are corrupt, or who work in corrupt or fascist countries, still perform fragments of that role. Looking at people's complaints over some small things while they ignore the big things, for example. @oleg_ru not at all. I think journalism is in a deep crisis precisely because it has lost touch with what gives it meaning - and ruthless criticism of journalism is totally deserved. Good journalists can show it doesn't apply to them by doing good work. For example it's fun to see how upset Elon Musk is with Taylor Lorenz today :) |
Gregory's Server
@Loukas @jayrosen_nyu Interesting, but the problem is that 'truth' has its own limitation in definition and heavily depended on the system where it is applied (Rodney H.Jones). In the modern postmodern world, it has a more socially 'constructed' nature rather than 'objective'.