Journalism Why It Matters by Michael Schudson

Journalism Why It Matters

by Michael Schudson, a book published by Polity Books, is a fresh account and history of Journalism and why this profession matters for our society. Journalism is a new way of reporting reality. Just 400 years old, at first magazines were good, excellent realities plenty of essays, and bought mainly by people with good culture. There wasn't a newsroom or a real profession and people interested to seeing published their elaborate needed just to contact that certain reality where they wanted to see their writings published in. Slowly in the USA, this one became a real profession. Reporting meant including pieces in the newsmagazine/magazine, and slowly starting to hear the voices of protagonists. Interviews were borning.  In Europe magazines and newsmagazine started to be interested by this new innovative way of seeing and reading reality.

What in fact a reporter does is following an event, reporting what happen in that exact moment. There is a spark of immortality; a reporter is a powerful witness of the times in particular when times are hard. 

In this moment of emergency, let's imagine what would it mean a world without good journalism telling us what to do with this new plague, the severe outbreak of Coronavirus affecting the entire world. Reading what reported by serious realities  is crucial for our own existences because permit us to staying informed, sharing informations, news, and what to do for avoid this beast. 

Of course the profession must have a greay ethicity for being classified as great journalism. There are various kind of journalisms and the most "dangours" ones, because they absorb a lot of people the ones containing a lot of gossip regarding famous people of various genre.

Journalism can in its best, revealing, discovering the baddest (or best) side of society for fixing problems. See at the voice Watergate or the immense case of paedophile priests revealed by Spotlight, the Boston Globe. Not only: journalism, inform keeping high the attention of people. When Reagan was operated because of a colon's cancer many people decided to do a check-up for trying to see if they were also sick or healthy.

Journalism has a sense wherever we are, although in some places working in the field is dangerous, because there is no free press and regimes can filter the reality and so, not for a reporter's fault, reality  become more sweet than it is. This one freedom of speech and writing is an immense problems and not just in a dictatorial regime. 

Sure a free press is important also when there is not democracy, and a free press is important also in a democratic state, for keeping balanced all power, for being a watchdog of the system.

What it is important for a good reporter: not altering the reality he is living in, and working with ethicity, without to add anything weird or not completely true. This is important for him/her, for his reader and for the credibiloity of everyone, the magazine/newsmagazine and its readers.

Generally people tend to choose to read a newsmagazine or on tv, watching a channel where they feel they established a good connection, speaking of value "transported" by the newsmagazine/magazine, broadcasting news. 

Journalism will also add Schudson, professor at Columbia University will be crucial in the future as well, with new scenarios ready to be explored, with crisis, ups and downs.

Beautiful reading, highly recommended.

I thank Polity Books for the physical copy of this book.

Anna Maria Polidori