Media words worth watching
Trust and transparency will be key to journalism in 2018
Here is a list of some words you may have associated with journalism in the past — and some we hope you will associate with the craft in 2017.
Embattled: We feel more embattled than ever, but governments around the world, and readers everywhere, have been attacking journalists — for good reasons and bad — for as long as we’ve been in business. We’re used to it.
Endangered: Newspaper journalists have been endangered since the invention of radio 100 years ago, the popularization of television 50 years ago, and the rise of the internet 25 years ago. Good journalism will continue to adapt — it must if democracy is to survive — and be ready face the next big thing.
The enemy: People were shocked last year when U.S. President Donald Trump called the media “the enemy of the American people” but politicians and others have been saying this for years — only privately. The problem now is a president has articulated it in public, and many Americans believe it, which is frightening indeed. It’s the first step in a dictator’s playbook.
Failing: Many media companies face challenges, and there have always been winners and losers, but it’s not just newspapers. Indeed, some newspapers are quite healthy, and some well-financed “new media” organizations are in trouble, while some are booming. Same goes for radio and TV. Again, failing is a word associated with Trump, who uses it to describe media organizations that do not flatter him.
Fake: Fabricated news has been around since the invention of the printing press, but it gained prominence during the last presidential election, when obscure internet entrepreneurs invented news for profit — and for political reasons. Journalists make mistakes, and most mainstream media organizations correct them promptly. But we do not print fake news, contrary to what some may say.
Transparent: Journalists have always championed transparency, but you’ll likely be hearing and seeing a lot more of it, especially as it applies to the media itself. What exactly are our ethics guidelines? How do our corrections policies work? How do we distinguish between opinion and reporting? How do we check our facts? How do we know what we know? And what don’t we know?
Trusted: I’ve written a lot about this in the past. But we’re likely to remind you more often. The reason this news organization, as just one example, has thrived for more than 170 years is because you can trust our information. Again, we make mistakes, but we own up to them. We don’t invent stories. We don’t print stuff we haven’t checked — and double-checked — with multiple sources.
Heroic: Journalists are often the last hope for readers who have faced injustice, been ignored by government or big organizations, or who have stories that require difficult investigations. We have a long history of fearlessly taking these on, regardless of the headwinds.