The Prince Edward Island legislature and press have recently been dealing with the issue of inclusion of bloggers in the legislature's gallery. Tim Banks has an update discussing Steven Pate's removal from the accredited media. John Morris has some pragmatic thoughts on the issue as well.
While I don't want to analyze the validity of Mr. Pate's personal arguments to be included in the gallery, the issue does bring to light some of the out-dated notions still held onto by some in the PEI journalistic community. In 2007 I blogged about The Guardian's archaic Terms of Use on submitted content. A few months ago I commented on a Guardian web posting that copied text from Wikipedia without attribution (note how the personal attacks in the comments were published, contrary to The Guardian's commenting policy). With these two examples, I hope to show that the culture of journalistic integrity is lacking within The Guardian's staff.
We then get comments like, "In my opinion, there is no place for partisan individuals, lobbyists or those with vested interests to be part of what is supposed to be an independent press gallery,” said Thibodeau" (The Guardian, Oct 20/09). The idea of non-partisan and independent journalists is a logical fallacy that should be understood by a professional journalist in this day. It makes me wonder to what degree journalists are engaged in training and education related to journalistic ethics and current issues after they end up in their careers.
Judging from comments on various blogs and news sources on the recent event involving Mr. Pate, it appears the wider issue of the evolution of journalistic objectivity and authority is being considered implicitly, though in an incomplete and uninformed manner. So my civic duty requires me to post an essay I wrote on the topic while I was a grad student at Ryerson. The essay is primarily focused on the idea of objectivity and authority within the sub-cultures of "professional journalists" and bloggers. It takes awhile to get to the meat of the current situation we find ourselves in but it's in there. Don't let the required theoretical preamble scare you, it may pique your interest, however dense it may read.
Authority and Objectivity: The Politics and Ideologies of Bloggers and Journalists (PDF)
