No Wonder They Don’t Trust Us

Journalists need to grow some balls.Published January 2, 2009

Written by Joey

Photography introduced me to the 'new media' evolution. I currently do community management at Meraki in San Francisco, but this blog is about journalism, some UX design, and the occasional rant. more →

@joeybaker | joey@byjoeybaker.com

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Warning: the following is a rant. I’ll keep it short.It drives me crazy to see journalist putting the nail in their own coffin. E&P just republished an AP story that politely complains that Israel still isn’t letting journalists into the Gaza war zone.No wonder 54% of the public doesn’t trust the media anymore. Instead of playing Fourth Estate watchdogs, these journalists have been nicely asking the courts of Israel for permission to do their jobs. Nevermind the fact the Israeli government and Hamas are controlling the story and spewing propaganda. It’s still a good idea to wait on one of these governments to allow you into a region when they can control what you see.Grow some balls.Do your jobs. Please. You’re only hurting yourselves through your laziness and ignorance. Don’t moan about how hard it is. If were easy, we wouldn’t need professional journalists in the first place!Journalists are expected to add value to what people on the ground tell us in order to curate and inform the mass-public about the actions of governments, industry, and events of the day. How can we do any of that if we’re not able to report!?Journalists. Step up. Now.

http://byjoeybaker.com Joey Baker
The following is copied from a discussion on Facebook about this post.
John Schairer at 2:41pm January 2
I think your post doesn't consider the perspective of an AP journalist carefully enough. I would consider being in their shoes very carefully before writing something questioning their courage.
Joey Baker at 11:22am January 3
The perspective of the journalists the AP refers to (I don't know if the AP actually has journalist ready to go into Gaza). is that they've been denied access, now they're stuck.
My point is that the Israeli Supreme Court has already said that the journalists are allowed to enter gaza, and the military still isn't letting them in. This isn't some weird legal battle.
Journalists have the loudest voice in the world, and they're not using it. Instead, they're very politely, writing an article that will be noticed by few.
I'm asking for them to start complaining in a way that actually matters. Front pages should read: “Secretive Israel at War/Journalists denied access to world's newest war zone”
The reason why people co-operate with the press is because they're afraid of bad press. If we don't hold that hammer over their head, journalists will continue to get tromped on. Example: The Bush Years.
http://byjoeybaker.com Joey Baker
Pretty incredible images of this gaze invasion.
http://byjoeybaker.com Joey Baker
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/ar…
Further discussion of how journos are messing up with specific regard to Gaza: the coverage has been biased.
http://byjoeybaker.com Joey Baker
Pretty incredible images of this gaza invasion.
edit: sorry, forgot the link:
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1…
http://byjoeybaker.com Joey Baker
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/ar…
Further discussion of how journos are messing up with specific regard to Gaza: the coverage has been biased.