The Newest Media Curse: Journalist-Pundits.

AuthorSALTZMAN, JOE
PositionBrief Article

WHEN DID JOURNALISTS turn in their notepads, tape recorders, laptops, and cell phones for crystal balls? When did they change from reporters to pundits? When did they go from being our primary source of information to the font of all knowledge? When did the journalist become more important than the story being covered?

If anyone wants to understand why the public is sick and tired of know-it-all journalists, just turn on the television in times of national crisis. Instead of good old-fashioned reporting, you will see broadcast and print journalists analyzing, pontificating, and predicting the news. Replacing the five W's--who, what, where, when, and why--is the "what if." The basic "why" in journalism has been turned into speculation and opinion. It used to be that the occasional columnist in a newspaper or commentator on TV and radio used the news to write an opinion in an attempt to influence public opinion. Then, journalists gathered on Sunday mornings to quiz newsmakers, gradually acting superior to the elected and appointed officials being interviewed. CNN decided to up the ante and brought in more aggressive journalists to argue with one another. Now, any Tom, Dick, or Jane on camera is called upon to predict the conclusion of news stories--even the most complicated--whether it be a stock market disaster, an election controversy in Florida, or an injured dog found by his juvenile owner.

Punditry is the order of the day. The minute any major news story breaks, a reporter on a major metropolitan newspaper or broadcast station is brought in to give his or her opinion of what's going on and what might happen next. Somewhere along the line, a reporter's opinion has become the coin of the realm.

No wonder the public is confused. And a confused public soon becomes an angry public that decides that the media are democracy's worst enemy. When people complain about the biased, arrogant media, they're not talking about the thousands of daily news stories that appear in the media. They are mostly thinking of print or broadcast journalists who appear on TV spouting the truth according to them. When the messenger becomes the oracle, something's wrong. Pundit squawking only adds to the intolerable electronic babble that destroys comprehension.

The lure of national exposure and fame is one reason so many journalists take the plunge. Finally, they don't have to keep their mouths shut, take notes, and ask the occasional pithy question. They can soar...

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