Mike Fancher / Times executive editor
Study of news media provides disturbing picture of journalism

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That provocative claim is in a disturbing report on the state of the news media in 2004. It comes from the Project for Excellence in Journalism, an institute affiliated with Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, with funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The report says current trends — shrinking audiences for news, economic pressure, ownership consolidation and cutbacks in newsroom investment — are creating something of a "vicious cycle" in public attitudes toward the press.

"As declining audience leads to newsroom cutbacks and other financial fixes, these reinforce the public's suspicions that news organizations are motivated more by economics than public service," the report concludes.

The ultimate problem, as I see it, is that the public suspicion is correct. On the whole, public service is giving way to financial pressure and less investment in quality journalism, which feeds the erosion of audience and public trust.

This cycle will only accelerate as ownership of news organizations is consolidated in giant conglomerates.

"Over the years," the report says, "the Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld a core principle: out of a diversity of viewpoints, we are more likely to know the truth. Yet we are moving in conflicting directions where we have more outlets for news but fewer owners.

"Bigness may give a company the means to provide high quality journalism, but it doesn't guarantee it. Bigness may also simply make journalism a less and less important part of a company's entertainment media portfolio and move it farther away from being a public trust."

One consequence of all of this should trouble you greatly: "Those who manipulate the press and public appear to be gaining leverage over the journalists who cover them."

The report can be found online at www.journalism.org. If you care about journalism and its role in serving democracy, I urge you to read it.

The study's authors believe it is unprecedented in scope. They looked at eight sectors of the news media: newspapers, online, network television, cable TV, local TV, magazine, radio and ethnic/alternative media.
 
Most sectors are losing audience, putting pressure on revenues and profits. Most "are cutting back in the newsroom, both in terms of staff and in the time they have to gather and report the news. While there are exceptions, in general, journalists face real pressure trying to maintain quality."

The report also says, "In many parts of the news media, we are increasingly getting raw elements of news as the end product." This is particularly true in 24-hour cable and online operations.

One finding probably won't surprise you: "Public attitudes about the press have been declining for nearly 20 years. Americans think journalists are sloppier, less professional, less moral, less caring, more biased, less honest about their mistakes and generally more harmful to democracy than they did in the 1980s."

Another finding might be a surprise: "At the risk of oversimplification, newspapers, the oldest medium, continue to have the strongest content, if for no other reason than that they still tend to have the most reporters. This also gives them an advantage in the transition to the Internet, at least for now, because the Web for the moment remains largely a text-based medium."

Yet another finding should cause you to examine your own behavior. Technology and the proliferation of media are giving you more choices and more control over the news and information you consume.

"Quality news and information are more available than ever before, but in great amounts, so are the trivial, the one-sided and the false," the report says. "Some people will likely become better informed than they once could have been as they drill down to original sources. Other consumers may become steeped in the sensational and diverting.

"Still others may move toward an older form of media consumption — a journalism of affirmation — in which they seek news largely to confirm their pre-conceived view of the world.

"The journalist's role as intermediary, editor, verifier and synthesizer is weakening, and citizens do have more power to be proactive with the news. But most people will do so only episodically. And the proliferation of the false and misleading makes the demand for the journalist as referee, watchdog and interpreter all the greater."

So, there may be a silver lining for journalists and news consumers. We still have the opportunity to earn your respect and attention, and you always have the power to reject us if we don't.

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

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