The CotoBuzz Journal, Community Journalism

June 2009

We do not make jokes, we simply watch the LA Times, the Orange County Register and CID/HOA board of directors and report the facts

Is Journalism Dead?

Or Just in a Temporary State of Suspended Transgender Animation?

Posted By CotoBlogzz | 05/09/09 | 10:00 AM

Some have said that journalism died during the recent presidential elections, pointing to the practice of Pen to Play – where journalists such as Chicago Tribune's Jill Zuckman who got rewarded with a political appointment for her brand of journalism Zuckman was the second Tribune Co. reporter to accept a position with the Obama administration in February of 2009. Peter Gosselin, who previously had reported for the Los Angeles Times, accepted a job as chief speechwriter for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner

Then there is Linda Douglass, who left her post as congressional correspondent for ABC News last year to work for then presidential candidate Barack Obama. Or Jay Carney, once Washington bureau chief at Time magazine, now press secretary to Vice President Biden.

Of course, not all reporters like the Pen to Play approach to journalism, such as Jessica Yelling, a reporter on CNN who claims that news executives pressured her to make Administration look good.

More troubling to traditionalists, however is the appointment of Rosa Brooks to a post in the Obama administration. Brooks, who moved from the L.A. Times to the Pentagon, has called for more direct government support for public media and government licensing of the news, which critics say would destroy the independent media. And then there is President Obama’s selection of Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of NBC Universal parent GE, to his new economic advisory board. Immelt by most accounts destroyed the company that Jack built, now reaps the fruits of the ultimate Pen to Play game.

As if this were not enough evidence that traditional journalism is dead, others present forensic evidence in the form of a viral video showing CNN Reporter Susan Roesgen covering the recent Tea Bag parties.

Not so fast Walter. Others claim that journalism is not only alive, but it is thriving, and point to Katie Courinc, the latest winner of the Cronkite Award in the category "Special Achievement for National Impact on the 2008 Campaign." The Cronkite Awards have been presented biannually by the USC Annenberg School for Communication, in honor of CBS News legend Walter Cronkite, since 2000. In a Deliverance-like awards ceremony, the awards announcement, judges called Couric's interview with Palin a "defining moment in the 2008 presidential campaign.... "extraordinary, persistent and detailed."

As if to put a nail in the proverbial journalism coffin, a survey published by eMarketer.com concludes that “Online news sites are now second only to recommendations from friends as the most trusted source of information in the U.S., according to a survey from TNS"

But then, there is the argument that journalism is simply in a state of suspended transgender animation. Former New York congresswoman Susan Molinari
who became a CBS news anchor, and then political strategist, says that “for generations, journalists and politicians had a symbiotic relationship.” And according to director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, “For the first time in 50 years, politicians have more job security than journalists,…It’s hard to fume at an act of desperation. Once upon a time journalists wanted to be eyewitnesses to history. Now journalism is becoming history.”

So the question remains. Is journalism dead, has it been morphed into a seamless ope-ed piece, is it in a state of suspended transgender animation, or is it simply a matter of the threshold of belief- a simple philosophical difference?