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To Boldly Go. . .
“I always thought it was odd to hear flat out declarations that there can be no life on other planets in the absence of water. How egocentric! So you’re saying that life can only exist if it’s precisely like us?
“Really?
“That’s the feeling I’m getting right now in the woe-is-us, hand-wringing sob-fest about whether life and our democracy can survive the death of some newspapers.
“With all due respect to some great newspapers where I’ve worked, I don’t give a damn about the paper they’re printed on. What I care about is journalism.”
—Charlotte-Anne Lucas, former newspaperwoman and current online journalist, 2009.
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Editorial Comment: To joyfully split infinitives in any medium.
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Amen, sister. Preach it!
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen Ms Lucas's online effort, but I'm prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that it is a reputable, quality product.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if it is journalism in the best sense of the word, it is at least as rare on the Internet as a major newspaper that's operating in the black.
The overwhelming majority of what's labeled online journalism bears little if any resemblance to the work that I learned at dailies and the AP: clear, crisp and either as free of the writer's own political, economic and religious philosophy as possible, or clearly labeled as opinion or commentary.
That's true whether it's Alter-Net on the left or Patriot Post on the right.
Perhaps Ms Lucas's online efforts are head-and-shoulders above the rest. I hope so. Even if they are, she should admit that most of the rest of what goes around the 'net is opinion with little fact to support it. That isn't what I consider journalism.
Joseph
Amen. "To boldly go" always made me cringe. Why not "To go boldly?"
ReplyDeleteIt would have made Captain Kirk sounds like a Roman Senator. OTOH, his middle name is "Tiberius."
jverner
Ted:
ReplyDeleteProbably yes, but I haven't seen evidence that journalism can accomplish all the things via the Internet that it has achieved via the clumsy, maddening, beloved compendia of fact, fiction and conflicting views called newspapers. The mere fact of compending is what makes the latter unique. It's pretty hard to go to an Internet page and have your eye caught by some headline on the opposite page about something you knew nothing about that turns out to be fascinating, or some piece of punditry opposing your view with interesting arguments and written by someone you never heard of.
Some newspapers are trying hard to offer this same sort of smorgasbord online but I have yet to be convinced that aspect will work.
It's true I'm old and change-averse in this regard, so I shall hope I'm wrong.
Ann