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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 2017)
Street Roots • October 20-26, 2017 O p in io n Page 3 It’s not ‘Fake News’; it’s propaganda had the pleasure of taking part in the City decides on presenting the news can shape how Club’s Friday Forum last week on “News the public perceives the validity of “real news.” Media in a Post-Fact World.” Myself and Wilson spoke about the need for newsrooms Kimberly Wilson, former Oregonian reporter and to reflect the communities that they serve. communications director with Meyer Memorial The reality is if you don’t have reporters in a Trust, were joined by Ben Dejarnette from the newsroom that come from different University of Oregon’s Agora Journalism Center backgrounds, it’s going to show and ultimately for the have a negative impact on communities that are conversation. either being discriminated against or struggling Many of the to have their voice heard in the community. questions posed It’s my opinion that much of the injustice to all of us had to that we see today is shaped by individuals and do with the organizations taking advantage of social media current media platforms and newsrooms that have remained climate, how the both insular and white. industry is Many good reporters have a natural instinct Israel Bayer is the changing and executive director o f and ability to read people and situations. what it means to be consumers of news. Street Roots. You can Sometimes those instincts can’t be taught in reach him at One of the topics was fake news, a term journalism school or won’t come from your israel@streetroots. org we at Street Roots have come to despise. traditional trajectory of going from college to or follow him on Fake news isn’t news at all; it’s propaganda, Twitter @israelbayer. working in journalism. plain and simple. We should stop using the If you’re a poor kid that is lucky enough to term. People creating content not based in make it through journalism school, it’s almost fact is not news. Again, it’s propaganda. impossible to survive in your 20s working to In a time when people are accessing news in build out your career and eventually land a job in new ways, mostly online, it’s hard at times for a newsroom. Meaning that, for the most part, the general public to understand what is real only people with a safety net have the ability to news and what is propaganda. It’s even more go into journalism. It means that many people difficult when the president of the United States with shared experiences of the very things that is targeting actual news organizations like CN N matter to our community aren’t there on the or N BC, calling them purveyors of “fake-news.” front lines reporting the nuances of the news, or Another question posed was: How do we able to give context. respond to a climate where the general public no More so, the entire industry is a crapshoot. longer trusts media institutions? That’s a hard The traditional mechanism of supporting one. Understanding that prior to the internet, newspapers and advertising is no longer a viable many consumers of news had less access to a option to maintain record profits at a newspaper. variety of newspapers and media outlets than we In many cases, newspapers are still making do today, I think it’s up for debate on how much money, it’s just not the record profits they once the general public has ever really trusted the enjoyed. newsroom. Plus the platform in which advertising is being Given that many editorial boards throughout sold by many newspapers has moved from print the years defended slavery, Jim Crow, the media to online advertising. What this means for Vietnam War, the notion that there were the consumer is that the content begins to weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and on and matter less and less, so long as people are on. It’s not as if there was actually ever a golden clicking on and commenting on the stories age of journalism across the board. themselves. Each time a troll makes a comment But that said, that doesn’t mean journalism on a story in The Oregonian, it serves as doesn’t play a key role in maintaining leverage for the newspaper to go back to democracy, or helping shape public opinion and advertisers to make money. It’s a sad affair. understanding of the world around us. It does. The smartest people in the business don’t It’s just that many of the platforms people use to know exactly how to survive. Every newspaper access the news have shifted with the is shrinking and losing resources, sometimes emergence of social media and other platforms little by little and sometimes by a lot all at once. that deliver the news. Whereas readers once When people say, what about Street Roots? bought a newspaper filled with everything from Isn’t it growing? It’s apples and oranges. We are sports to local politics, now they cherry-pick small potatoes in the larger landscape of the their news on an article-by-article basis. media, and we don’t have the resources to fail, It’s also a reality that newsrooms are period. That’s not to take away from our great shrinking. Couple this with the emergence of reporting, or the fact that the media landscape Twitter and Facebook - you’re bound to have a is made up of more and more small, issue variety of narratives that not only shape the way focused media outlets that are doing more with we view the world, but also allow voices from all less. After all, we are just one grant or major ends of the political spectrum to have a donation away from having to downsize platform. ourselves. Journalism isn’t free. Nothing is. It’s my belief that great journalism presents It’s easy to beat up on the media industry or both problems and solutions in our community to critique it in a way that delivers more and the world and drives people toward the idea negative than positive criticism. The reality is we of solving problems and highlighting the do have some amazing reporters in Portland solutions. working long, hard hours to get the story right Obviously, the media also serves to provide a and deliver it in a way that’s both informative watchdog component for both society and and serves the broader public. That’s not going government. The makeup of a newsroom, the to change anytime soon. chosen content, and how an editorial team I if available. Street Roots 211 NW Davis S t , . Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax:503-227-3117 www.streeiroots.org www.news.streetroots.org Hours: 7:30 a.m:-3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat. and 7:30-1 p.m. Sun. Advertising Interested in advertising in Street Roots? Contact Israel Bayer at israel@streetroots.org Staff Executive Director Israel Bayer israel@streetroots.org Executive Editor Joanne Zuhl joanne@streetroots.org Vendor Program Director Cole Merkel cole@streetroots.org Operations Director Sarah Beecroft Program Assistant Caelin Miltko, Jesuit Volunteer Development Assistant Rosemary Wilson Editorial Assistant Monica Kwasnik Vendor Assistant Scott Jackson Reporters Emily Green, Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Emilly Prado, Jared Paben, Amanda Waldroupe, Stephen Quirke, Helen Hill Photographers Diego Diaz, Arkady Brown Canvasser Desmond Hardison Board of Directors Chairman Brad Taylor Vice-Chairman Rachel Langford Treasurer Heather Stadick Secretary Dan Jones Directors Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson, Sandra Hahn, John Brown, Nels Johnson and Alison Hallett Volunteers Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali Rathore, Zoe Klingmann, Dan Jones, Dennis Hogan, Monica McKune, Susan W olfe, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell Jr., Jeanie Lunsford, Jason Cohen, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jon Raymond, Diana Richardson, Paul and Madeline Gefroh, Mary Anne Joyce, Del Shawn Davidson, Gillian Floren, Mark OIDani, Bianca Butler, Alex Cherin, Jenny Fames, Evan Firsick, Camber Hansen-Karr, M iranda Woods, Henry Brannan, Megan Smith, Luke Scheuermann, Annie Aube, Helen Hill, M ark Brown, Lily Krai, Mary Emerson, Adam Bruns, Brooke Anderson and Megan Pickerel-Winer. If you're interested in volunteering w ith Street Roots, please subm it a volunteer application at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or you can call fo r more inform ation at 503-228-5657.
