Don's Review: Law, Politics, Science, Philosophy

Thomas Jefferson once said that if he had to choose between a nation with government and no newspapers, or one with newspapers and no government, he'd always choose the latter. Jefferson, historically one of the harshest critics of newspapers, also said: "Where the press is free, and every man can read, all is safe.".

Journalism reached its peak, perhaps, during and just after Watergate. It’s safe to say that Nixon was brought down by the diligence of Woodward and Bernstein initially, and, then, a slew of other reporters from magazines and TV. They all competed to get the next scoop on the tragicomedy.

Journalism, at that time, came closest to a full-fledged "profession," as medicine and the law have always been regarded. I took journalism classes at the University of Minnesota and a main point of discussion was whether journalism had become a profession with a "code" to follow and with an association to reward and censor its participants.

Somehow, that question of professionalism for gathering news is now nowhere on the radar. It has been shot out of the sky.

The incipient code, which was stillborn sometime in the Reagan era, contained elements that included: objectivity; never failing to at least try to get both sides’ comments (even if it meant writing "Mr. Smith did not return several calls made to his office; quotes from a "common" person on the street on the subject matter. The press (newspapers, TV and radio) came oh-so-close to becoming a true Fourth Estate, contributing to knowledgable discussions among everyone from street vendors to CEOs about all local and national issues. Above all, it came close to giving a voice to the average person, which would have mean real power for the working stiff, which is just not the case in the United States these days.

Jefferson’s philosophy in the United States was accompanied by legislation ensuring various degrees of freedom of publishing and the press. The depth to which these laws are entrenched go to the heart of our Constitution. The concept of freedom of speech is often covered by the same laws as freedom of the press, thereby giving equal treatment to media and individuals.

Our Mission Statement

We intend to do our best to bring Jefferson's ideal back into our world, despite the 200 years of weaponry and technology and legal changes that separate us from him.

Schools of journalism must recognize that our work goes forward in a society facing multiple crises -- political and cultural, economic and ecological. These crises are not the product of temporary downturns but evidence of a permanent decline, if the existing systems and structures of power continue on their present trajectory.

These failing systems produce too little equality within the human family and too much devastation in the larger ecosystem. We face a world that is profoundly unjust in the distribution of wealth and power, and fundamentally unsustainable in our use of the ecological resources of the planet.

* The task of journalism is to deepen our understanding of these challenges and communicate that understanding to the public to foster the meaningful dialogue necessary for real democracy.

The best traditions of journalism are based in resistance to the illegitimate structures of authority at the heart of our problems. From Thomas Paine to Upton Sinclair, Ida B. Wells and Ida Tarbell, the most revered journalists have had the courage to take a stand for ordinary people and against arrogant concentrations of power. But today, commercial journalism is constrained by diversionary and deceptive claims to neutrality, leaving journalists trapped in a corporate-defined and -directed subservience to the status quo. Increasingly we live with a journalism that rarely speaks truth to power and routinely echoes the platitudes of the powerful.

In a world in which an increasingly predatory global corporate economy leaves half the population living on less than $2.50 a day, can we ignore the call for justice? In a world in which all indicators of the health of the ecosystem are in dramatic decline, can we ignore the cry of the living world?

* Mass media have a moral responsibility to produce journalism for justice and storytelling for sustainability.

As the journalism industry faces a broken business model and struggles for solutions, there are great opportunities to reshape journalism to serve people and the planet, following the traditions of the spirited independent journalists of the past and present. The curriculum for this should not only offer training for a job but also inspire a collective search for the values and ideas that can animate a just and sustainable society.

We invite you to join us in remembering the inspirational lessons of our past and facing honestly the problems of the present. Such an approach honors the best traditions in journalism and scholarship and offers a path for struggling with difficult questions rather than dictating simplistic answers.

This mission statement, first published in commondreams.org on Sept. 14, 2009, was written by Robert Jensen, a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin and board member of the Third Coast Activist Resource Center . His latest book is Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity (South End Press, 2007).

Who We Are

We are journalists and attorneys and scientists with years of experience separately or put all together.

We have reported and managed at dailies, trades and the nation's leading wire service.

We seek to apply our understanding of how to prioritize stories for a general audience and our knowledge of how to please highly motivated, critical readers and writers such as lawyers.

We have worked in the financial, legal, and general media and covered events such as Hurricane Gloria as it directly hit the Connecticut coast and the initial operation of a Minneapolis "decoy squad" sent out to arrest drug dealers.