journalism

Why I Failed At Journalism
By Daniel G. Jennings
One of my great ambitions when I was younger and stupider was to be a journalist, that is a reporter. I worked hard at this going to journalism school, getting a degree and working at a number of newspapers and I failed miserably at it.
I failed at journalism because I simply lack the mentality of a journalist, which in retrospect is a very good thing for me. I lack the two prerequisite personality characteristics required of a journalist.
First, I’m not dishonest, a modern journalist must be extremely dishonest. He or she must make mountains out of molehills. The journalist must exaggerate and distort all manner of everyday events into newsworthy happenings.
For example every meeting of the city council, the town board, the county commissioners, the state legislature and the school board must be covered as a newsworthy event. The truth of course is that the city council of a large city only does something newsworthy every few months. Yet, the newspapers cover every such meeting even though nothing happens there. Largely to justify their existence or the existence of the city hall reporter. No newspaper would dare print a little notice that said “nothing newsworthy happened at Monday night’s council meeting so we gave our reporter the night off.” Even if something newsworthy happened at council the reporter could learn of it by reading the minutes of the meeting at his leisure at his desk in the newsroom and write it up for Wednesday’s paper. This story would be probably be more accurate than the version written by the reporter at the meeting and just as newsworthy. Since most people wouldn’t read it anyway it wouldn’t matter.
Or take the senseless protests that go on everyday in most of our cities. No reporter would write that twenty bored middle aged leftists walked around for twenty minutes waving signs and chanting slogans then listened to a speech by a long winded college professor or some local preacher. That would be an accurate description of the vast majority of peace protests, yet the media reports on them as if they were important events. Largely because publishers and editors are afraid of all the angry letters from peace protestors and their sympathizers if they reported the silly truth of a peace protest.
Or the countless stories about the death of some important personage some writer or actor or politician the majority of the population knows little or nothing about. The death of every 1940s MGM contract player, 1960s rocker and best selling novelist is now a major news event. Even though these people’s deaths make little difference to the average person. Why I wonder does Hunter S. Thompson deserve media coverage rivaling that of the death of the Pope. Old Hunter was obviously a talented writer but he wasn’t an important person, he didn’t deserve the front page obituaries he got. So journalists have to hype all sorts of people into major celebrities so everything they do is news.
The second required journalistic characteristic I lack is a hysterical nature. I don’t run off and do things at the drop of a hat. I feel no urge to run after a fire truck or police car when it goes by with a siren on or to look at every accident or crime scene. What is so exciting about people standing around watching smoke coming out of a building or people pulling a corpse out of a car?
I can’t see how every murder, an event that occurs three or four times a day in the average mid sized city must be reported as if it were the second coming. When I worked as a reporter I couldn’t rush over to the Wal-Mart Parking lot because unemployed bum A had shot unemployed bum B over a woman in a broken down trailer. Then stand around watching for thirty minutes as police stood around and a bunch of bored yokels stood around watching the police.
I’m not a herd creature I can’t see how following politicians and policemen around is important or exciting. Or that newsworthy, how does following politicians to every speech and rubber chicken dinner give you an accurate picture of the political process or events in the nation? I can’t see it, such frenzied running around is boring. Often times the reporters chasing after the politicos miss the stories and the real developments. Remember the last election? The press thought Kerry was doing far better than he actually was because they were too busy following him around to staged events on the campaign trail. If they had gone out and talked to the man on the street they would have realized that their golden boy was a turkey.
So since I’m not dishonest, not hysterical and like to do my only thing rather be part of the herd, I don’t have the mentality of a journalist. For that I thank God everyday.