Missouri Press Association
Serving Missouri Newspapers Since 1867
Has journalism become a dirty word?
In my family, no.
My father was a journalist, my uncle, my brother and a cousin.
Sometimes noble, always needed, the talk around our family dinner table for decades held journalism in high esteem.
Today, table talk about journalism has changed in many households.
I learned this lesson recently in a call with the Beekeeper Group. They are a top tier public affairs and strategic communications group in Washington, D.C.
They were retained by Press Forward, a national movement that aims to keep local journalism thriving in all 50 states, to gauge national perceptions about journalism and it’s perceived value to Americans.
The message from the Beekeeper Group is this: don’t say the word journalism. The word has become polarizing, misunderstood and is a turn-off for many people.
Having spent a career as a pass-carrying press journalist, this research was, at first, disheartening. But I get it.
The word “journalism’’ has become all muddied up with “the media.” Not many people these days think kindly of talking heads on national TV, the name-calling, and the unverified opinions that are too often stated as accurate accounting of events.
At its best, Journalism once was seen as a profession. Journalists practiced at newspapers, TV and radio stations. They engaged in disciplined fact-based reporting and embraced commonly accepted standards, practices and ethics.
Now, that’s all muddied up, too.
A recent Pew Research study found that the public is more confused than ever about who is a journalist and what constitutes journalism.
Older folks still associate journalists with newspapers, and TV, and fact-based reporting.
But folks under 30? They mostly have never read a newspaper and consider journalists to include people who write their own newsletters and make their own videos for Facebook, Tik-Tok and Instagram.
Of course, some of these self-made journalists do a good job. But others?
There is no going back to some perceived golden age of journalism. For the most part, the public isn’t moved by cries that journalism is in trouble, or laments that news deserts are growing or pleas for a return to traditional news outlets.
As the Beekeeper research found, “people assume local news is alive and well because they can scroll through Facebook or check a neighborhood website and see ‘news.’”
But there is a kicker …
Journalism may be a dirty word, or a misunderstood concept, but an overwhelming 87 percent of the people surveyed by Beekeeper said accurate, local news matters to them personally.
This is encouraging to old journalists and new.
It’s local news, kiddos. That’s the key to framing up what used to be gathered up under the umbrella of journalism.
Local news resonates. It’s accurate information that helps people understand what goes on at City Hall, in the high school and at the cop shop. This stuff still matters to people.
The Beekeeper research dug deep on this. The firm polled more than 3,000 people. Their surveys, polls and focus groups purposefully over-represented rural and conservative-leaning participants to make sure their findings weren’t being skewed by progressives in urban areas.
What Beekeepers found was that honest, fact-based, verified information mattered to everyone. People, in fact, directly link their personal well-being in a community to quality local news.
So that’s it.
The key to reviving journalism as it once was called comes down to shifting the discussion of local news being a community asset.
These are the words that work. And a valuable lesson for the Missouri Press Foundation.
Want to know how the Missouri Press Foundation can help your newspaper? You can reach Chris Peck at cpeck@mopress.com or by calling him at (573) 449-4167, ext. 303.
