New journalist/sense maker

"The new journalist is no longer deciding what the public should know – this was the classic role of gatekeeper. He or she is helping audiences make order out of it. This does not mean simply adding interpretation or analysis to news reporting. The first task of the new journalist/sense maker, rather, is to verify what information is reliable and then order it so people can grasp it efficiently." - The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel

During the days of yore, journalists served as the middlemen, between those in power and their constituents, especially so during scandals. And that role continues to this day, but to a lesser degree.

As someone, who was placed in the middle, the newsman was able to block access to certain information coming out of the politicians from flowing to the public. Today, that is mostly gone, the role of the journalist being the individual who decides what information the public gets to see has long disappeared in the chaos of cyberspace. These days, the journalist is no longer the gatekeeper, because the gate is wide open.

There are videos and documents that are plastered on Facebook by citizens who have uncovered wrongdoing at a public agency or have some information on a politician that would jeopardize his career. In other words, the Pandora’s box is open. The reporter these days must collect these pieces of information, and expend energies into verifying, confirming, and writing up a story if the information warrants it.

These pieces of information that are often scattered through many Facebook walls must be collected together by the reporter. Once a collection has been created, the reporter pulls out his rolodex, and begins to dial concerned parties to figure out whether the facts are confirmed. Often, when the evidence is extremely incriminating, the person on the other side of the line will deny it. In such a case, the reporter moves on to other relevant parties, dials them and gets their take on the story.

Records are almost always public. When a document is circulating on social media, the reporter must figure out whether it is authentic. And that is done by looking at the document for origin, and once that’s figured out the reporter can run the story either way depending on his own discretion. It ought to be said, if the document is extremely incriminating, there is a chance that the government agency will not provide a verification copy or deny its existence. Both of which should be noted in the story.

The new journalist, who is savvy and knows his way around digital mediums to gather sources and find stories, has to research hunches posted by others, collect the facts, organize the facts in an orderly fashion, and publish it. A great deal of information these days is posted online, so everything might be on the internet. It could be that no one bothered to connect the pieces to tell the public what these disparate pieces of information means.

Verification is the name of the game. There is a lot of skepticism, so something that is posted by random joe on social media, will not be half as believable as it would be if it were posted on a news website by a real reporter. 

Pulitzer used his front page to lure his readers in

"Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst appealed to both the sensational tastes and the patriotic impulses of their audiences. Pulitzer used his front page to lure his readers in, but he used his editorial pages to teach them how to be American citizens." - The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel

During the last decade of the 1800s, Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, both newspapers magnates, massively increased their papers circulation by appealing to peoples’ natural liking for scandal and sensationalism of unimportant stories. The period is labeled under “yellow journalism” because of the thick layer of lies, scare headlines, and nonsense that made its presence on the front page of both men’s papers.

However, despite the yellowness of the time, there were decent efforts being made to educate the public on their rights and responsibilities as free citizens. Pulitzer knew if he did not conform to the spirit of the time he would lose a great deal of money, so he filled the front page of his newspaper with content that would not be considered as journalism, but open his paper and go through it, hidden inside were meaningful articles in the form of editorials that made up for his misbehavior on the front-page.

Hearst simply peddled pseudo-science and fake interviews, probably one of the many reasons why he does not have distinguished journalism prize named after him.

Awareness Instinct

"People crave news out of basic instinct – what we call the Awareness Instinct. They need to know what is going on over the next hill, to be aware of events beyond their direct experience. Knowledge of the unknown gives them security; it allows them to plan and negotiate their lives. Exchanging this information becomes the basis for creating community, and making human connections." - The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel

In people there is an innate instinct to scour for information about their environment, an automatic function that thirsts for useful knowledge. A newspaper serves as the water to quench that thirst for information about the unknown.

Consider a businessman, the first act he might perform in the morning, prior to heading to his place of employment, is read the newspaper, not just for the sake of reading something in the morning, but to find out market conditions. And sometimes these businessmen extract ideas reading articles that further them in fathering companies.

A businessman has a natural want for news concerning his business, so he reads the paper to fill his mind with relevant knowledge. Sometimes in newspapers there are scandals involving competitors that is also useful to the businessman because it is a form of intelligence that he can use when making decisions. In other words, for him the news serves to provide information on “what is going on over the next hill.”

A paper's appeal thrives on human curiosity for information, and this is why a newspaper almost always has an audience, so long as it continuously provides fresh contents to its readers.

Societies that want to suppress freedom must first suppress the press

"It is difficult, in looking back, even to separate the concept of journalism from the concept of creating community and later democracy. Journalism is so fundamental to that purpose that, as we will see, societies that want to suppress freedom must first suppress the press." -  The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel

Journalism binds together people that would otherwise awkwardly exchange glances and have little to say after an initial greeting. Walking into any place where people socialize, it is hard to miss the role that journalists and the press play. Here is a vivid example:

Mary, a local school teacher, walks into a coffee shop. She greets a somewhat older fellow inside, who is sipping tea, and he responds: "Hey, how are you?" This is a typical greeting that is exchanged between strangers. Sure, it seems like someone is concerned about you, and wishes to know how you are faring in this messy business of life, but trust my word: it is a mechanical phrase issued to everyone this individual meets.

"I'm fine, and how about you?," responds Mary. The older fellow, let us call him Joe, answers her question, and says: "I'm well. Have you heard of that shooting that happened on Main Street last night that was in the morning paper?" There it is, now Joe and Mary will have a lengthy discussion on shooting and crime, in their town. Journalism creates discussion, but more importantly it creates and binds communities together by offering them common threads of discussions, without which a community is likely to falter.

How do repressive regimes suppress freedom of their citizens? By dividing up citizens, who would otherwise be able to act collectively to institute a new government by renewing the social contract of their ancestors. The press by providing common threads of conversation is able to keep them from being divided. Sure, each person may have differing opinions on issues, but on major issues people often have similar opinions, more so than we imagine. And even when opinions are different, the conversation is often the same.

By suppressing free press a government is able to set threads of discussion in the larger population, and thus keep a docile public dancing to its own music.