So long, Inside The Times; hello, journalism's future

The tradition in my family has been to say "So long," rather than goodbye. The difference is that "so long" means goodbye only until the next time.

Today's "Inside The Times" is my last, after almost 16 years and more than 600 columns. As I explained in columns the past two weeks, I'll start a Seattle Times blog about the press, the public and technology after the first of the year and explore it until I retire sometime in the first half of 2008.

This final column is one of optimistic hope for the future of public-service journalism. It is a leap of faith to a future when new economic models have been found to support the public journal as a public trust. I'm confident in making that leap because I believe the American people will act in their own enlightened interest to preserve a free and independent press.

They will because "The primary purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing." That quote is from what I consider the best modern book on media, "The Elements of Journalism."

The authors, Tom Rosenstiel and Bill Kovach, write: "This democratic mission is not just a modern idea. The concept of creating sovereignty has run through every major statement and argument about the press for centuries, not only from journalists but from the revolutionaries who fought for democratic principles, both in America and in virtually every developing democracy since."

They make the case that journalism always has been fundamental to creating community and democracy, so fundamental that "societies that want to suppress freedom must first suppress the press."

So, the first reason for optimism is the desire of the people to have credible information for self-governance. Their inherent distrust of power and demand for accountability can already be seen in the emergence of the media-reform movement nationally. The democratization of media is giving people greater control over the media they consume and allowing them to create some of it.

This is the second reason for optimism. More than ever, people overloaded with information will seek out trustworthy help in navigating and connecting. The role of journalism in this emerging world is to be an honest broker. The amazing technology that is disrupting the economic model for old media is also enabling better journalism than ever before, if journalists can recognize and seize the opportunities.

The key is for journalists to be true servants of the public, driven by clear values and ethics. The press must create the kind of journalism envisioned by Rosenstiel and Kovach when they articulated these "elements of journalism":

Its first loyalty is to citizens.

Its essence is a discipline of verification.

Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.

It must serve as an independent monitor of power.

It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.

It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.

It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.

Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.

In striving to live up to all of this, journalists must accept that a discerning and skeptical public will be as distrustful of the press as it is of government, politicians, businesses and any other institution of society.

To earn public trust, journalists must lead in developing the nascent concept of "news literacy," which aims to help people be better, more knowledgeable consumers of news. Journalists must articulate the standards that set their craft apart and create methods to assist the public in determining whether those standards are being met. Knowing their best efforts will always fall short, journalists must commit to introspection and transparency.

The rewards for doing this will include better journalism and greater public support for the cause of journalism. For all of its criticism of the press, I sense the public holds an underlying respect for its role. In the end, I think most people know that they and the press are on the same side. This, too, is cause for hope.

Finally, I am optimistic because I've had the opportunity in the past year and a half to spend time with high-school and college students who say they want to be journalists. Technology, for them, is a comfortable tool that will enable them to tell stories in ways that earlier generations couldn't have imagined.

Despite the uncertainty and hardship they see in the profession, these young people are at once pragmatic and idealistic. They understand that journalism is a calling, and they are drawn to it.

Some will find jobs in traditional businesses; others will invent new ones. In both cases, they will join earlier generations of journalists who are reinventing their craft, their organizations and themselves. They will answer the call.

I wish them and you all the best.

So long.

Inside The Times appears in the Sunday Seattle Times. If you have a comment on news coverage, write to Michael R. Fancher, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, call 206-464-3310 or send e-mail to mfancher@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists