By Denny Wilkins
Buffalo, NY – When people find out I'm a journalism professor, they tend to tell me all that's wrong with journalism these days.
Too much bad news, they say. Not enough good news.
Too much opinion, they say. Not enough reporting
Too much bad writing, they say. Not enough clarity.
And, in the case of TV news, Too much emphasis on having good hair, they say.
I nod, agreeing.
Then they say, Well, what are you doing about it? What kind of journalists are you going to produce?
I just tell them I don't try to produce journalists.
But you teach journalism! they say.
Good journalism professors, I tell them, have three goals for their students. And excelling in a student's chosen career field isn't necessarily at the top of the list.
I tell them good professors want their students to graduate first as good, kind, decent, unselfish people who move through life with compassion as well as passion.
Second, they want their students to graduate as good citizens of the Republic who can vote with intelligence and care.
And the third?
Frankly, if my students achieve the first two -- being good people and good citizens -- then I don't have to worry about the third -- their ability to be effective journalists.
That will flow naturally from the decency and intelligence that they bring to their personal and professional lives.
Journalism today has serious problems. Reporting is shallow. Thoughtlessness is increasing. Reporters increasingly give their opinions about the news rather than sticking to giving us facts. Spin rather than insight dominates. The common problems of common people get overlooked as celebrity, conflict and scandal dominate the headlines.
No wonder polls say the credibility of journalists is low and getting lower.
The cure to what ails journalism isn't better training in the skills of the profession. That's just not enough anymore.
We need journalists who approach their work with common decency and intelligence as well as the skills needed to apply those values.
Colleges ought to produce more young men and women who have learned humility and humanity as well as journalism.
Maybe the news won't get better, but at least journalists might get a bit more respect.
Listener Commentator Denny Wilkins is an associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University.