One of the most important posts about media I’ve read this summer is Douglas McGill’s A Syllabus for Journalism as a Healing Art.
I’m not going to attempt to summarize it; that would a slight to a piece that has to be taken and digested as a whole. I will offer these grafs, from his conclusion, to give you the heart of what Douglas is writing about:
Plainly stated, journalists and citizen journalists shouldn’t fix their progressive dreams to the latest miracle of communications technology. They should consult their heart, before they activate the machine.
The key is intention. Returning to the agriculture metaphor, the key for journalists is to learn how to cultivate a positive intention behind their communication, from which seeds of intention will grow language that does not injure, aggravate or destroy, but rather that sustains, helps and heals.
Journalism’s professional ethical code of “objectivity” contradicts itself, because it asks journalists to create positive moral outcomes while acting in a morally neutral manner.
Yet only positive moral intentions, followed by positive and skilled moral actions, can create positive moral outcomes.
I’ve been carrying Douglas’s post around in my head for several days now, and have re-read it closely at least twice. While I haven’t completely grasped his new curriculum, nor formed a deep opinion of what it says, I find it profound and challenging.
At the very least, it’s another indication of the rapid evolution of journalism. But while much of the attention being paid is on platform or performer, this piece is one of only a relative handful that seriously probes changes in practice and intent. And that makes it important that it be read and discussed.
I can’t remember a time during my long association with journalism when there has been as much questioning of the fundamentals of the beast. A Syllabus for Journalism as a Healing Art provides the basis of something that has been missing in all that questioning — some pointers to answers to those questions.
(NOTE: Andrew Cline has an, as always, astute reaction to Douglas’s piece.)
TAGS: JOURNALISM
