Changing demands upon journalists
Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, author and university professor Philip Meyer is an internationally recognized "grandfather" of a school of journalism known as "precision journalism." His observations about the changing media landscape will serve to provide some instruction for us.
"If you are a journalist," Meyer writes, "or thinking of becoming one, you may have already noticed this: They are raising the ante on what it takes to be a journalist.
"There was a time when all it took was a dedication to truth, plenty of energy, and some talent for writing. You still need those things, but they are no longer sufficient. The world has become so complicated, the growth of available information so explosive, that the journalist needs to be a filter as well as a transmitter, an organizer and interpreter as well as one who gathers and delivers facts. In addition to knowing how to get information into print or on the air, he or she also must know how to get it into the receiver's head. In short a journalist has to be a database manager, a data processor, and a data analyst." Philip Meyer, Precision Journalism: A Reporter's Introduction to Social Science Methods 4th ed. (Rowman and Littlefield: Lanham, Md., 2002).
Meyer's comments about what it takes to become a journalist serve as important commentary on News Values we consider important in Advanced Reporting.
