Rodney Pinder's (of the International News Safety Institute) talk was very interesting and you could see how any situation in which human conflicts arise is a situation which could become a potential death trap.
The figure that over 1,000 journalists have been murdered in the last 10 years is a truly frightening one.
But what was more interesting was his desire for journalists to move away from the 'celeb' culture and 'silly news' writing which has started to become standard in the modern world. And while I heartily agree with his sentiments a fellow student threw him somewhat by saying
'Surely quality reporting is giving the public what they want. Whether that be fashion gossip about celebrities or high-level war reporting surely that is 'high-quality?' (Paraphrased)
To be fair to Mr Pinder he did admit that quality reporting meant the factual and honest reporting of anything. Not just serious hard hitting news. But it remains a point to consider.
Is quality journalism not (just) the reporting of serious events in an intelligent and informative way but, infact, the reporting of events that the public (who, after all, are the people who actually buy papers and magazines) want to read about?
Even if that means what the latest fashion disaster Posh and/or Becks have made this month.
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1 comment:
Dan,
Yes I noticed you had a whole rainbow thing going on. I'm sure the newspaper people would be disgusted by our focus on aesthetics. Clearly, we were made for magazines.
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