The Best of Times and the Worst of Times for American Journalism

I think we need to be careful about saying there was a golden age of purely objective journalism because I wasn't, thanks for joining us this week for family policy matters. Today will be discussing a transformation of the news media and why the absence of vibrant news reporting can be a threat to our American way of life. Tracy did that grace the communications director at NC family sitting in this week for John Weston. Our guest is John J. Miller, director of the journalism program at Hillsdale College is also founder and Executive Director of the student Free Press Association. He is the author of several books and a contributing writer for some prestigious national publications including national review and the Wall Street Journal. John Miller welcome to family policy matters.

Thank you.

Okay so is a bit of background would you very quickly if that's even possible. Explain what is happened to professional journalism in the past decade or two like a big question obviously is that we got it we got a revolution in digital media. In the book the rise of the Internet. Everybody knows that on with it is called the but not the collapse of the mainstream media, but the near collapse and so there so many different sources of news and information down so I like to say that journalism is never been better served and worse and here's what I mean by that is never been better in the sense that Americans and people anywhere they have information at their fingertips like never before. If you want to read Pres. Trump/speech unit is a Google search what if you want reams and reams of commentary on that speech are news reports about the speech is also easy to find, and what I when I first got into journalism. It is it what is it, it just pales in comparison to what we can do today. All is writer fingertips.

So this is tremendous at the great opportunity it's it's it's really it's really wonderful as a as a journalist of the information, but more poorly as citizens, we can all get this kind of information that helping us help us think for ourselves. The flipside, of course, is that with so many different sources of information becomes harder to know what to trust them so I was a lot of really great journals about their trust sources, we can go to were seeing the emergence of all kinds of sources of uncertain character, and that creates that creates risks as well creates talk more about the fewer number of professional journalists as well and what kind of effect that might have so there there there are fewer professional journalists today than there were a generation ago and we know that because organizations are discount numbers there fewer jobs in journalism than there used to be and this is this is because the that the downsizing and closure of of my newspapers around the country. There's been an increase in web journalism. As you might expect web journalism which which really didn't exist. A generation ago that there are tens of thousands of jobs are within journalism that are entirely web-based. They have not completely replaced the journalism jobs have gone away, but the gap is less than what you might think so there are fewer journalists at work on the one hand, on the other hand with blogging and twitter there's a question about who's really a journalist anymore and there are a lot of people who can do journalism nights and weekends. I can moonlight as journalists when they have day jobs.

It's it's created really a vibrant environment when there's a lot of information out there, it's easy to get information than ever before, but we'd always know and trust creates last week I went to Washington DC with a group of students and one of our speakers was Chuck Lewis and he was talking about an organization that he has helped begin called the Center for Public integrity and the aim is to help re-creating communities all over the country. A core of investigative reporters who are doing what investigative reporters are supposed to do. So why is it necessary do you think to raise up this independent nonprofit organization to do what used to be the job of local and national journalists so that's a great question.

This is a subset of modern-day journalism nonprofit journalism and were seeing more and more of the site are run an organization myself called the student Free Press Association, which is always best known for its higher education website called the college fix all species of of of what you call nonprofit journalism students on the first of journalism class often is it what is the purpose of a newspaper and I get these honest answers about to inform the public to to help us you know be a self-governing people. This kind of thing always come true, but actually the number one purpose of the newspaper to make money your businesses. They need advertisements they need subscribers and if they don't get them the go to go out of business is good be no journalism but also as a commercial enterprise. Now, having said that, there's always been a philanthropic streak in journalism. I spent much of my professional journalism career national review, which was which was founded by William Buckley Junior in the 1950s and he always used to say national review exist to make a point.

Not a prophet and and it measured it measured its success not by the bottom line, but by how influential it was and so I know national review would not exist but for the but but but but for benefactors until very recently. National review is a for-profit company. It recently went into a 501(c)(3) mode and it is now two can raise money the way the way so many other groups can solicit emerging field and in journalism and is a healthy development. I think it it it it allows for more opportunities for us to do reporting and to tell stories, but I do think we need to be aware of agendas because not everybody wants to walk while some people do have agendas close to say that and we need to be wary of them is as we turn to these different sources so the important part that journalists are to play in America was spelled out in the U.S. Constitution.

Can you talk just briefly about that and why say the loss of a vibrant news media could be threatening to our way of life. While the founding fathers knew how important journalism is, they knew was essential part of public deliberation.

They knew that if you self-governing people with citizens who are informed about what's happening in their town or state or country or world are going to need information that they would get it through newspapers.

Also, the reality they dealt with the but newspapers are doing some of the basic functions of the performing now and so when when the founders when they when they signed the Declaration of Independence.

How do people learn about that while they learn about it because was published in newspapers around the colonies. The Federalist papers we encounter today in in in books and that might trick us into thinking that Alexander Hamilton and James Madison and John Jay when they wrote the Federalist papers got together and and and divvied up the assignments like these are chapters in their gonna put together a book will act what they were really doing as they were ready newspaper about so the founders understood the critical importance of journalism in that and a Free Press to the United States and and then try this idea in in in the First Amendment was listening to policy matters a resource to listen to our radio show online resources that will place of persuasion in US community to our website and see family.org I think those of us who are old enough to remember. We always talked about journalism and journalists is trying at least to be unbiased so lately it seems like at least around our office. We talk a lot about that whole concept seems to be just forgotten. So what are the problems when journalists instead take on the role of judge and advocate for one side of an issue or an ideology that a great question is a huge problem today but I want to begin with, with a cautionary note which which is let's not remember the good old days when all the journals were unbiased mean the ghost of Ronald Reagan could come back and we could ask and what you think of all the unbiased journalist of the Washington Post, the New York Times, he would laugh at us right he would say he would say those those people are all Democrats and their all liberals may have it in for me and so so I think we need we we we need to be careful about saying there was this golden age of of of of purely objective journalism because there wasn't. And it and and and although some people might claim that to be true.

The newsrooms for for for for decades were dominated by liberals and that the shame of it was they refuse to admit their own biases. Lately the other day. There did want to talk about them or they didn't recognize them, and so we would have things like Walter Cronkite was was the most trusted man in America, they would they used to say about him. But if you read his memoir he talks about how he would've loved to been George McGovern's running mate in 1972 which was the most left-wing ticket American history may be performed before Barack Obama came along, so that tells us something about who was shaping the news in the objective of recent past. Look at Dan Rather that the successor to Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather committed one of the greatest wonders in American journalistic history when on the evil of the 2004 election, he ran with a news story about how George Bush allegedly shirked his military duties when he was when he was a young man during the Vietnam era. He was called out on that one who called them out.

The bloggers that huge error of the mainstream media was exposed by a bunch of people who not a bunch handful of people who work journalists by avocation not by profession necklace to show you the real power of this journalism now, but there is the problem.

Anybody can get a platform on Twitter. That means anybody can have a platform on Twitter. Not everybody was careful, these folks were, let's let's not fall into the trap of thinking that journalism once was great and today is fallen, it's always had problems.

The nature and character of the problems shift a bit over time but but the fundamental challenges remain pretty similar. You mentioned already, a couple of times, fake news and course. I think a year, two years ago.

A lot of people aren't even aware of such a thing, or maybe weren't quite as aware of it. Back then, as we are now why do you think it is been so easy for people to fake news and why are we also ready to believe whatever we read on the Internet to think Walter insert a lot of it is what people gullible while people are willing to be gullible. They're willing to believe a thing they hope is true and and with the rise of social media and the weight the wave will pass around articles recommend them to each other in it sometimes difficult for us to to us as the reliability of the source and so if you get up if someone shares with you all column by George will know matter what you think of George will probably be sure that any facts that are going to be accurate.

The interpretations are going to be smart if, although they might be debatable in certain cases, are you going to get a pretty good piece of of opinion journalism is reliable some fundamental ways. If another person though shares with you an article by someone you've never heard of before for a website that that that does not sound the least bit familiar are you trust that one as much and you probably shouldn't mean you shouldn't read it shouldn't consider it, but you should go to little bit of skepticism. Maybe over time as you encounter a particular writer more and more come to come to like a certain website and recognize it's it's reliability. Maybe you can change your mind about that but we shouldn't, we shouldn't believe everything the first time we hear it because we know there's a lot of untruth out there. Thank you so much. So tell us where listeners can go to learn more about your work at Hillsdale and also find helpful resources related to the journalism in general. So I would say learn about journalism at Hillsdale College is going to the college's website look up the Dow that DO W, the Dow journalism program will pop right up. I also invite you to go to the college fix which is an example of this nonprofit journalism we are talking about the college fix is a website of higher education news reported by students. Editors are professionals with her working with students are trying to train them to tell the untold stories about what's really happening on America's campuses with that with the crisis of political correctness and the crisis of free speech.

The economic crisis of of of the cost of higher education. The students are tackling these tough subject and then doing some really great original reporting to go look at the coat check out the college fix. Finally, good reliable sources of information you need. I think the best newspaper in America, the Wall Street Journal, throw out the good newspapers and locksmiths have their strengths and and I think the best thing to do is find some in your area the cover cover local and state news well and what you might find out that as a blogger or some some website in North Carolina. That's that that this doing this kind of work there's there's a Carolina Journal in North Carolina knows very good at covering state government to find this kind of thing in your state and start reading it and start being starting a loyal reader and torn expect everything for free right if you like some pay a little bit for it. You know, if you want access to the Wall Street Journal to go to Georgia.

Other places might ask for donations. Think about that too. If you care about the quality. Thank you so much for being with us on family policy matters and thing her Miata and thanks for your work to not only produce the journalism but also to educate the future generations of Americans are family policy matters Enzi family to listen to our radio show online resources and information about issues important to families and Carolina website family.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook