Keller @ Large: New Year's Resolutions For The Media
BOSTON (CBS) - Are you ready with your New Year's resolutions yet?
You only have three days left to get them together. And for those of us in the news business, there is a long list of things we could and should resolve to do better in the new year.
For starters, we should resolve to make sure we're reporting on and analyzing the world around us accurately and fairly.
Everyone makes mistakes, yours truly very much included. But the now-infamous Rolling Stone article about alleged sexual abuse on the University of Virginia campus was not a mistake. It was an intentional effort to present a dubious story as a symbol of a deeper problem, in which basic standards of journalism were abandoned.
And don't get me started on the Baltimore TV station that edited a chant by marchers protesting against police brutality to make it seem as if they were promoting violence against police, all of this right in the middle of a dangerously-volatile climate on that issue.
Completely irresponsible.
Our First Amendment privileges also come with a responsibility to use them judiciously, and we fail in that obligation when we indiscriminately cover every passing, often meaningless internet sensation. The ubiquitousness of the internet means we need to be more sober and selective than ever about what really qualifies as news, not less.
And I'd like to see all political reporters resolve to avoid pack journalism and sycophancy in 2015. Repeating group-think is a violation of our core mandate; fawning over politicians or causes is the opposite of what we're here for.
I could go on, but I know what you're thinking: don't tell me, show me.
I hereby resolve to give it my best shot.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
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