The good we do
THE Cebu Press Freedom Week ended yesterday, Saturday, on a happy note. A fun run in the morning and a fellowship in the evening.
Despite the many challenges in the industry and the failures of media to better inform the public, journalists found reason to celebrate the work they do.
Journalism is not an easy task. The gathering of information and the writing and presentation of reports to make them easy to understand, complete and compelling are no longer as straightforward as the practice of decades past. Technology has changed journalism and made it possible for media to address different audience sets.
Journalism, at the same time, changed technology to make it suitable to immediate, comprehensive and, hopefully, accurate reporting on newspapers, magazines, news websites, blogs, social networks and on mobile devices like your everyday phone.
Add to the complications of multiple publishing platforms is the threat to the life or safety of journalists that remained constant in the new media age.
The work of journalists can be routine. They gather the news, write, submit to editors, and the report gets published. Then, they re- peat the process. Only the deadlines, writing type and production processes differ per medium.
Ron Heifetz, a proponent of “adaptive change” and author of “Leadership Without Easy Answers,” reminded journalists of the important work they do. He spoke to journalists about this at Harvard University where he is senior lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government.
He said the work of a journalist is a grind. It’s daily and it’s this story and the next. But it’s really important work because the world is a complicated and confusing place; media can help make sense of the noise – in the newspaper, online, on social media.
Media work can be frustrating for journalists because, often, what they report does not result in anything concrete.
They write about the need to clear drainage systems but people continue to suffer the floods after every heavy downpour. They write about corruption but no one gets convicted. One got convicted but he was pardoned and is now back in government. It seems nothing will change the system.
One of the ways journalists could stay in the game, Heifetz said, is to not measure what they do. Because you can’t actually measure good.
You can measure readership, achievement, revenue, or some other outcome. Measurements can be useful but you can’t really, ultimately, measure good, he said.
Heifetz said one of the ways to stay alive is to take joy in the fruits of one’s labor. Not to keep looking at why the job is not finished, but to look at the job that is done, the stories written, the website updated. Somehow these stories may have made a difference in the lives of other people.
You keep people informed, and they do something about the information. You can’t measure that. When readers tell you how they appreciate your reports. How do you measure that?