I was almost a journalist.
In high school, I won all kinds of awards for journalistic writing. I was the Editor-In-Chief of the school paper, and I got several invitations to enter from year one into college journalism programs. I had always planned on writing but was unsure how to use that particular strength of mine. But I was concerned that if I went right into journalism I wouldn't get a chance to explore.
Therefore, I chose a Big Ten school and mucked around for quite a while. I got distracted and wound up in the health sciences.
Some days my journalism teacher's words haunted me. I stopped by to visit my high school one day in late college, when I had planned on going to grad school in mental health. She got a sorrowful look on her face and said, "What a writer you would have made."
Those words used to create a knot in my stomach every time I thought of them. But as of yesterday's debate debacle, I'm freed of that particular ghost.
I'm what certain people refer to when they deride the "pointy headed intellectual." I'm the "elite." It's funny -- "Elite" seems to connote some kind of benefit or privilege. All it does for me is make me ill as I watch what feels like the increasing Bread-And-Circus mentality in my country. I love learning things for learning's sake, and not because it makes me "better" or different. And yet the journalists seem to be stoking hatred of intellectual thought -- and me. A virtual throwing to the lions in service of entertainment.
I can assure you, it is definitely not a privilege watching the intellectual decimation of our country via journalistic hackery. It's torture. As a kid I really believed that the role of a journalist was to bring light into all the dark corners of the country. Carl Rogers once wrote about how a potato in the cellar would seek the light on its own and flourish. I believed that journalism was the way to societal improvement and that, honestly, I just couldn't take the rigors of what was required for a career in journalism.
And then I tried to reconcile that feeling with the rise of things like TMZ TV.
Since my graduation from undergrad, I have had the opportunity to be involved in several research projects. One of those projects clearly demonstrated the pending demise of network news. Every year the viewership falls and more people seek their news sources from the Internet. That particular study didn't investigate whether people went to CNN.com or, say, an independent news source, but the drop in the viewership of TV news is huge.
I think that's a good sign, because these hijackers deserve it. But the printed media isn't much better. For every hard hitting, thoughtful editorial, there are 100 issues of US Magazine. My husband is from LA originally, and he always used to respond to criticism about movie content that "nothing is more responsive than the entertainment industry." If people don't like it and demand it, it doesn't get made.
So here is the problem, I think. Journalism is no longer about checks and balances on executive, judicial, and legislative power. It's about entertainment. Do not expect symmetrical information from people who have a vested interest in keeping you placid and entertained. During feudal times, the serf class rioted when their tax burden reached 25%. What is keeping us from doing the same? Only bread and circuses. And bread is going by the wayside for many. I guess that means all we have left is circuses.
ABC is therefore just giving people what they think they want. It is Disney, after all. If you don't want to be Disneyfied, the backlash needs to be immediate (it seems to have been) but sustained. We are such an ADHD nation at this point --all Disney thinks is that we'll get over it. And if we are mad at ABC we'll still shop at The Disney Store and cave into the demands of our kids to go to Disney World. We can't afford to do these things anymore in so many ways. If the Coliseum is empty, Caesar et al can't put on a show for us. We don't need FCC regulation; we need sustained outrage amongst the populace. Demand better. It's entertainment. It's Hollywood. Not for nothing did they tell us all to call LA...instead of NYC to complain.
I feel lucky now I did not go into journalism. I must have had some wisdom at 18 in some dark place inside. Perhaps it was cynicism. I cried when Peter Jennings died. Just a little bit. I wondered who would replace him.
Now I know: no one. At least, no one in that format. I have some hope though. Bloggers have become investigative journalists in their own right.
Scream and yell...and then turn it off. For good. I'm giving up my seat.