Dr. Samuel Becker on the State of Journalism

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IOWA CITY - Dr. Samuel Becker's ten monographs and 115 journal and book publications defined 20th century speech communication studies according to the University of Iowa.   His service to the field spans over a half century, giving him unique perspective on the future of journalism in America.  Thursday in Iowa City, Becker discussed current trends threatening the very core of the journalism industry.

With government media deregulation came the subsequent rise of massive media corporations and mergers.  The locally owned news outlet is becoming a thing of the past according to Becker. Local news outlets operating in the  local public interest are increasingly being swallowed by global corporations with global stock holders.  These co-opted news outlets lose their focus on local public interest just as they lose their local ownership, Becker argued.  "Corporations some distance away no longer care about [public interest]," Becker said.  "They care about maximizing profit." 

This profit-centric mentality in the wake of deregulation has other consequences, Becker noted.  Despite a focus on sales over the public interest, decline in profit leads to the firing of the already constrained newsroom staff while sales staff go unscathed.

This "constrained" newsroom staff results from the rise of hired research firms tasked with tapping into public opinion.  These surveys and studies on how to make a news outlet more attractive to the public have been a major corporate focus.  "It isn't news judgment, but a judgment of what is going to be profitable," Becker said. 

Media outlets are increasingly pressured to write stories that draw in the most ad revenue rather than stories that serve and inform the public.  Autonomy and news judgment erodes, and the public suffers as a result.  "Networks and papers aren't focusing enough on what people ought to know," Becker said.  "That's part of the business, part of the responsibility of people in the news business."   According to Becker, it takes incredibly "chutspah" for a journalist to step up and put first what's in the public interest rather than what will sell in light of this profit-centric pressure. 

Becker centered on a recent study showing the comedy news program The Daily Show on the Comedy Central Network has an equal amount of hard news as ABC, NBC, or CBS news broadcasts.  "This is a sad commentary on our network news shows who've become influenced too much by what will attract viewers to their ads versus what the viewers should be informed about," Becker said. 

When asked how journalists might reverse these trends, Becker had some advice.  "I think a really good journalist can attract audiences who want to know what's going on in the world," Becker said.  "Very often they're asking the wrong questions."  Becker the debate surrounding whether or not the United States is dipping into a recession as an example.  "It's a stupid question," Becker began.  "What's the difference?  A lot of people are out of work and out of homes.  We've got to do something about this." 

Becker's argument reflects that of journalism scholars Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel.  These scholars criticize the "argument culture" plaguing American journalism, wherein two parties are often invited to argue about an issue rather than working toward actual solutions. 

"You won't always be popular with officials and corporate owners, but it's terribly important," Becker concluded.  "This will build back trust in the news media, which is something we need to do."