By: Lucia Moses Internet Adds Time Pressures, Credibility Concerns
As newspapers struggle to keep pace with the Internet, the risks are high for a
profession already suffering from credibility problems, leading journalists say.
Even resource-rich papers like The New York Times, it seems, aren't immune. Times
Op-Ed Columnist Frank Rich, leading a panel discussion this week at the Newspaper
Association of America's annual convention in New York, said a story he recently
wrote was posted on the Times' Web site before being thoroughly edited.
Lesley Stahl of '60 Minutes,' also on the panel, said she feels a 'sense of doom'
about a coming media world where journalists will have to be newsgatherer, writer,
editor, and camera operator all at once.
'What journalists will have to be are one-man bands,' she said. 'When are they going
to gather information? When are they going to make that third phone call? I find that
distressing, but that's the way it's heading.'
At a time when the media has little to celebrate about its public image, panelists
tackled the question of how best to restore the industry's waning credibility.
Panelist Steven Brill, publisher of Brill's Content, repeated his earlier calls for
newspapers to hire ombudsmen and adopt an industry-wide code of ethics.
'I think we suffer from the kind of arrogance any group suffers from when their power
goes unchecked,' said Brill, known for his severity in criticizing the press. 'We do
not want government to check the power of journalists.'
San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News Publisher Jay T. Harris said there are better ways than
hiring ombudsmen to address problems of perceived bias, inaccuracy, and sensationalism
in newspapers. The Merc News, for example, publishes a mission statement and reporter
contact information at the end of each story to show that credibility is one of the
newspaper's core values, he said.
Panelists saw other challenges and opportunities for newspapers and the Internet. Brill
said in a fractionalized media landscape, strong newspaper brands will come out on top.
Stahl worried that as the news becomes more interactive, journalists will face yet more
demands on their time from readers and viewers. 'We will be more questioned as time goes
on, and the Web will give people more ammunition to do it,' she said.
Her bigger fear, however, concerns the dumbing down of news coverage amid increasing
competition and consolidation of ownership. At one time, she said, 'We went with our gut,
we went with what people needed to know. That's just fading away with competition and
deregulation.'
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