Media critic/futurist and journalist Jeff Jarvis posted a thought-provoking series of questions on Saturday:
I challenge every journalist in Tampa for the Republican convention — every one of the 15-16,000 of you — to answer this:
* Why are you there?
* What will we learn from you?
* What actual reporting can you possibly do that delivers anything of value more than the infomercial — light on the info, heavy on the ‘mercial — that the conventions have become?
* Would you be better off back at home covering voters and their issues?
* Can we in the strapped news business afford this luxury?
Jarvis went on to calculate that at $300 a night for a hotel room plus other expenses, the press corps was going to spend $60 million for both party conventions that could be better used for the larger purpose of saving journalism.
First, let's dispense with the economic argument. As one local reporter quipped to me online, he's got out-of-town journalists staying in his shed for $29 a night. So Jarvis' math is suspect. And the problems of journalism won't be solved, or even dented, by $60 million even if we had it to spread around.
Aside from that, however, Jarvis raises some great questions that every journo here and every news organization back home should ask itself. Why does it take 15,000 people to cover what amounts to an infomercial and a handful of middling protests (so far, at least)?
The Truth?
This article appears in Aug 23-29, 2012.