Spring Break
What hath become of journalism?
Mohammad Al-Kassim
Issue date: 2/26/07 Section: Forum
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I remember when I was a young boy how I used to gather my brothers in our bedroom and make them sit quietly through my make-believe newscasts.
I used to hold a wooden spatula as if it were a microphone. On many occasions I got my father in trouble after interviewing him and asking him about mother's cooking, then reporting it to her as "breaking news."
Journalism is a sacred profession, and those who enter this field are not in it for money. Freedom of the press is essential to the survival of a nation and its democratic values; it promotes greater accountability and contributes to the growth and prosperity of economic development.
Journalists are the watchdogs over government officials and those who may take advantage of the people's trust to gain personal benefits.
Journalists are the soldiers the poor and helpless recruit to fight on their behalf. They are also the early warning system that should alert the public about what is happening in the hallways of government buildings.
The great Helen Thomas said in her book "Watchdogs of Democracy?": "It is the job of reporters and editors to ask the tough questions of those in power and to act on the answers with trust, integrity, and honesty guiding their judgment."
President Thomas Jefferson told Thomas Cooper in 1802, "The press [is] the only tocsin of a nation. [When it] is completely silenced ... all means of a general effort [are] taken away."
The state of journalism and media has fallen to a new low in the last couple of weeks. Just when you thought the lowest level had been attained with the coverage of the Jennifer and Brad breakup and the Michael Jackson debacle, now we have to live every second of the aftermath of Anna Nicole Smith's death.
Now we must hear endless details about what is going to happen to her daughter's inheritance. Everyone is preoccupied with who is the father of little Dannielynn. The mainstream cable news networks spent more than two days on this subject alone.
I used to hold a wooden spatula as if it were a microphone. On many occasions I got my father in trouble after interviewing him and asking him about mother's cooking, then reporting it to her as "breaking news."
Journalism is a sacred profession, and those who enter this field are not in it for money. Freedom of the press is essential to the survival of a nation and its democratic values; it promotes greater accountability and contributes to the growth and prosperity of economic development.
Journalists are the watchdogs over government officials and those who may take advantage of the people's trust to gain personal benefits.
Journalists are the soldiers the poor and helpless recruit to fight on their behalf. They are also the early warning system that should alert the public about what is happening in the hallways of government buildings.
The great Helen Thomas said in her book "Watchdogs of Democracy?": "It is the job of reporters and editors to ask the tough questions of those in power and to act on the answers with trust, integrity, and honesty guiding their judgment."
President Thomas Jefferson told Thomas Cooper in 1802, "The press [is] the only tocsin of a nation. [When it] is completely silenced ... all means of a general effort [are] taken away."
The state of journalism and media has fallen to a new low in the last couple of weeks. Just when you thought the lowest level had been attained with the coverage of the Jennifer and Brad breakup and the Michael Jackson debacle, now we have to live every second of the aftermath of Anna Nicole Smith's death.
Now we must hear endless details about what is going to happen to her daughter's inheritance. Everyone is preoccupied with who is the father of little Dannielynn. The mainstream cable news networks spent more than two days on this subject alone.
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