Newsiness

Competent Journalism is not an oxymoron.

News media do not mold public opinion so much as they reflect it.

   There's often a thin line between news and gossip.
   The term "Newsiness," like "Truthiness," may sound like a story is important, but a closer look often reveals little of substance.
   Sometimes "wolfpack journalism" and often "herd journalism" overwhelms the crowd of reporters at an event and influences the way the story is covered. This can be a good thing, as reporters chase a big story, but too often the subject is a very easy target, as news crews surround the stumbling subject.
   Other times, clever marketing of an entertaining politician attracts and manipulates journalists, enticing them with frothy phrases and and catchy quotes. The problem here, of course, is that while the subjects may sound like they know what they're talking about, that's no guarantee that they do.
   So it is with the current political campaign. Smart candidates, like corporate executives, recognize that reporters are sometimes lazy, and can be easily led or misled with tales of sound and fury. But as Shakespeare pointed out, these tales are often told by idiots, and signify nothing.
   At the same time, the more competent, aggressive journalists struggle to get through the crowd to ask the tough questions. They then face the accusation -- usually from an aggrieved, novice politician -- that they are pushy, unfair, or disrespectful. Far too many corporate executives and politicians believe that if a reporter is not an advocate for their positions, they are therefore adversaries, are treated as enemies.
  While it may  occasionally be true that reporters show little respect for certain politicians, this could well be justified. More often, however, it's important to remember that good reporters are neither advocates nor adversaries. They ask the tough questions because they need to be asked.
   So there needs to be a balance. When news subjects -- man or woman -- show little depth or knowledge of the field they hope to work in, whether corporate, diplomatic, international relations, economic policy or anything else, it's the duty and obligation of journalists to expose that incompetence. Not because they are vindictive, although politicians may say that in an attack response, but because reporters have an obligation to the general public, and to voters especially.
   Demagogues are particularly glib in arousing the ire of crowds, and they do this by smearing minorities and attacking those who question or disagree with their political platitudes.
   Journalists, then, must keep a thick skin and not be offended by such machinations, and to continue their neutrality and report just what the candidate says, and to explain its consequences.