I entered the world of journalism in 2000 and was indoctrinated quickly and completely. Being a journalist was being part of a club. As part of my membership in that club, I defended my fellow journalists against critics the same way one defends her siblings: We can beat each other up, but I’ve got their backs if anyone else does. The gloves went on quickly against those who came wielding accusations of “liberal bias” and “elitism,” both terms typically used by politicians to discredit reports in the press that might damage reputations or hurt reelection chances.
Since leaving the profession, I’ve been able step back and realize that perhaps the “elitism” criticism has some merit, though not in the context of politicians and negative press about them. Instead, the charges of elitism have weight when we discuss which Americans the press and media are serving with their coverage. Emerson College professor Jerry Lansom articulated the problem in a recent column in the Christian Science Monitor: “Conventional wisdom holds that newspapers have been crippled by the flight of advertising to the Web. But they’ve been crippled just as much by corporate profiteering, arrogance, elitism, and encroaching dullness that have driven away readers, sometimes in droves.”
In the course of offering three steps to get journalists back to their roots, Lansom states, “Reporters need to cover how the other 90 percent of us live – and not only when we commit or are victimized by crimes.”
In short, Lansom is calling the press disconnected.
