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Robert Picard

Why Journalists Deserve Low Pay

May 6, 2009 Robert Picard, director of research for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) gave a presentation at the RISJ seminar series at Oxford University and created a buzz in the media world with his essay, “Why Journalists deserve low pay.” His essay reprinted in the now online-only Christian Science Monitor argues that journalists do not need to be paid very much because if you want information these days you can just Google it. Although he makes some very good points, his central line of argument is essentially flawed. Picard’s thesis rests on the perception that journalists “are not professionals with a unique base of knowledge”. He argues that anyone can do their work and that technology is “de-skilling” journalists by giving individuals, without the support of journalistic enterprises, the ability to source information, access information, understand its significance and communicate it with ease. Therefore, they are not the value-added component of their product. Picard.

The Purpose of this Paper

This paper asserts that journalists do in fact produce value for their wage, and that technology is not de-skilling journalists but inevitably changing the way information is disseminated and consumed. The particular avenue of my assessment that most powerfully conveys the value of the professional journalist is through direct examples from National News Organizations highlighting their benefit to the profession and the importance of their work in providing well-researched, articulately written, professionally edited, authentic stories.

Then and Now

In essence, Picard says that with the growth of the Internet and social media such as Facebook, and Twitter any person with a computer or mobile phone can do the job of a journalist. “It is providing individuals – without the support of a journalistic enterprise – the capabilities to access sources, to search through information and determine its significance, and to convey it effectively” Picard argues, that mainstream media was doing fine when information was hard to get and even harder to circulate. The public expected journalists to have the top news stories, sports scores, and stock market results ready for them at their doorsteps. People in the community trusted journalists and they in turn delivered news that was timely and relevant. The value they produced came in the form of having access to information and sources that ordinary citizens did not. In addition, journalists worked for companies that could disseminate this information in ways the public could not match. The Internet did not change the profession of journalism, what changed was the culture. “Change is not coming from traditional forms of competitor but from the audiences they serve” Rosen.

Technology VS People

Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive officer of News Corporation does not agree with Picard that anyone with a computer or mobile device can do the job of a journalist. In an address before the Federal Trade Commission’s Workshop in December 09, his message was just the opposite when referring to his “friends online,” “Expensive and distinguished journalists who invest days, weeks, or even months in their stories—end up as rewrites—at times without attribution. These people are not investing in journalism they are feeding off the hard earned efforts and investments of others” Murdoch. In summing up Murdoch’s address at the workshop, he contends that technology makes it cheap and easy to distribute news for anyone with access to the Internet but producing journalism on the other hand, is expensive and without content to transmit, blackberries i-phones and computer screens would be blank slates. Rupert Murdoch believes so strongly in the value of his journalists that he announced he is looking for a way to keep the work of his News Corporation journalists off of Google Thomas. Regarding Picard’s statement that “wages are compensation for value created and journalists are simply not creating much value these days”, (Picard) it would seem that if the world’s largest news producer does not want his journalists hard work to be read for free, it is worth noting that their value must be quite high.

The Value of Journalists

Not only does Picard’s thesis suggest journalist do not deserve the wage they get he also puts forward the idea that there is no value in their work. “The primary value that is created today comes from the basic underlying value of the labor of journalists. Unfortunately, that value is now near zero” (Picard). This New York Times piece demonstrates the importance of investigative reporting by regional newspapers to exonerate prisoners who have been wrongfully sentenced to death and portrays the skewed view of Picard’s proposal of zero value for labor. Often lawyers opposed to the death penalty provide journalists with a broad outline of cases who then pursue witnesses and dig up evidence. The work of the journalists in these cases resulted in a number of exonerations of the wrongfully convicted several years ago. Unfortunately, because of the decline in newsroom resources, lawyers now have to do the work themselves and, by their own admission the work is not getting done. Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence project of New York which is affiliated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, states “When procedural mechanisms begin to fail, the press is the last resort for the public to find out the truth” Arrango With the economic uncertainty of news operations at this time lawyers are worried that without the help of journalist to do the investigative work for them, fewer wrongful conviction cases will be overturned. The value of the journalists labor in this situation would be hard to measure especially if you are the one on death row in need of their professional services. Picard’s presumption that “Journalists are not professionals with a unique base of knowledge” has proven to be flawed through the above example.

Citizen Journalism

Three journalists of the mainstream media see social networking sites, blogs and “citizen journalists” as tools to help them distribute and market their content. Nicola Careem, Felicity Cowie, and Anna Stewert at the BBC News Online formed the User Generated Content (UGC) hub, a dedicated BBC unit tasked with sifting through the overflow of information from the BBC’s global audience contributions via email and texts where its authenticity is verified by established journalists and then passed on to the appropriate BBC news outlets. If the information turns out to be truthful and interesting, a journalist is sent to conduct more in depth investigating of the subject. If it stands up to interrogation it is published. Vicky Taylor, the interactivity editor of the BBC News, who oversees the hub states “you don’t go into this lightly, thinking you can sack a few journalists and get the public to do our work for us. It is just not like that. — It’s quite the opposite actually” Holliday 8. The information received from the public is used to help the BBC] with delivering content that is relevant and appealing to the audience they serve. The professional journalist is not being put out of work by these citizen journalists because the information still must be verified for its authenticity and legitimacy. It takes journalists to think creatively and be innovative in order to maximize this content Holliday 6. In fact Vicky Taylor mentions they are so busy with the volume of information that three new journalist will be hired to help decide whether information is published or not. Social media is being used at the BBC as a mechanism to interact and connect with the audience. Other successful examples of the media and citizen journalist collaborating: In Panamanian journalists are developing the "My Transparent Panama' platform as a model digital tool that can be used to cover crime and corruption in Latin America. The project is an online digital map that plots citizen-provided information about incidents ranging from fraud and theft to murder and rape. My Transparent Panama is a collaboration between citizen reporters and professional journalists to investigate crime and corruption. From October 2010 to the beginning of February, the project has collected 287 citizen reports – 100 via text message – of which 52% were corruption allegations. The other top categories included murder, armed assault, and theft. Over the last six months the site has had 2610 absolute unique visitors and 9530 page views. The project’s main idea is to have citizen reports investigated by journalists and that stories and features are published and broadcast based on this information. Ultimately, this can improve the quality of investigative journalism in Panama and open new paths for collaboration between journalists and citizens.(Knight Center).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the reality for journalists is the value of their work has not changed. What has changed however is what people are willing to pay for it. The {[Internet]] expanded the choices for information sources and social networking has opened the door for people to communicate within their own circles and consume information that directly pertains to them. People have mobile devices and they want to be involved in the news. Social media does not replace journalists even though breaking news may at times take the form of amateur video as was the case of a plane crashing in the Hudson River, bombings in the London subway or a sumami in Thailand. For the most part however, the public relies on mainstream media for the content they proliferate. Professional journalists still produce the information that informs society and engages us in issues as complicated as the nuclear disaster in Japan to the occupier movement across the globe. People need to know about these things and trust the information has come from reputable sources. “The disciplines of traditional media—space, deadlines, the need to have a headline and an intro and a cohesive story rather than random paragraphs, the use of layout or running order to give some sense of shape and priority to the news—aren’t just awkward restrictions. They add meaning. They help understanding. Without them, it’s much, much harder to make sense of what’s happening in the world” (Rosen). The message to be considered in light of the contradictions of Picard’s essay is the reality that the value of professional journalism did not change. What did change was the culture of how it is consumed.

Works Cited

Arango, Tim. "Death Row Foe See Newsroom Cuts As Blow." New York Times. 04/20/2009: n. page. Web. 20 Nov. 2011.
Holliday, Graham. “Panning for Gold in the Blogosphere.” pressgazette. 24/03/06: r8. Web 11 Nov 2011.
"Knight Center." Journalism in the Americas. N.p., n. d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
Murdoch, Rupert. “From Town Crier to Bloggers: How will Journalism Survive the Internet Age.” 01/12/09. Web 2 Nov 2011.
Picard, Robert. “Why Journalists Deserve Low Pay.” RISJ Seminar Series. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Oxford University, Oxfordshire, England. 06/05/09. Web. 12 Oct 2011.
Rosen, Jay. “Bloggers v Journalists is Over.” PressThink. 25/01/2005. Web. 27 Nov 2011.

<http://archive.pressthink.org/2005/01/21/berk_essy.html>

Thomas, Andrew. “TG Daily.” Murdoch plans to block Google.

VelumMedia. 9/11/09. Web. 16 Nov 2011. <http://www.tgdaily.com/business-and-law-features/44577-murdoch-plans- to-block-google-news>

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