Journalism is an inherently arrogant profession.
From the nucleus of the idea -- journalists write something, the reader reads it -- it's something that thrives off a sense of superiority.
A month or so ago I tweeted this, which led to several varied responses. Some thought it was an interesting subject. Others spoke about accountability. Almost all were negative. The interesting thing about a journalism industry losing its ego is that it only works if everyone cooperates. For many the idea that a profession that prides itself on being a source of public information being perceived as arrogant was too much to bear.
Here's a hypothetical situation. I have a brilliant idea about a new blogging platform. I have it visualised in my head and proceed to write it down. I then meet up with a developer to help flesh out the idea and make it real. I accept that I need their help. I don't need to learn code; I just know that these people can help me out, and we can openly collaborate.
We create the blogging platform, and it's moderately successful. The developer takes credit for it, saying that it was his idea. All along I've pursued an agenda of openness, willing to share ideas freely and accept that this is our project rather than mine or yours. We all have a part to play. But the system falls down because someone isn't playing by the same set of rules. You can be as evangelical as you like about losing ego in journalism, but unless everyone plays ball, it doesn't work.
How is it that when open-source culture exists, we can still be bound by an archaic concept of how journalists operate? This hasn't anything to do with content or economics, but a mindset.
We need to bring the journalist down the hierarchy of perceived authority, and then earn that authority by the work we produce and the community we serve.
Up until now, the mindset of the industry has been, "I am a journalist, therefore I am authoritative." In a world in which the public can access media through myriad different sources, this attitude should no longer be prevalent.
I'm pessimistic about an ego-free industry ever appearing, at least not in my lifetime. Ego is woven into the fabric of the industry so tightly that it's very hard to escape. Journalism schools, for their part, haven't done anything to assuage this. Becoming part of a big media organisation (where this attitude is most common) is still touted as the golden ticket, and it's only with a young generational shift that something like this is ever likely to change.
It's ego that makes journalists stand alongside politicians and government ministers as the least trusted professions. It's ego that makes people roll their eyes when you tell them you're a journalist. And it's ego that makes you write what you think should be the news rather than what your community thinks.
In reality everything is a shared effort, and failing to acknowledge that smacks of ego. It was a shared effort before crowdsourcing existed, and it was a shared effort before social media, only now it's a lot more obvious. Journalists need to can the ego and start thinking like members of a community, not as overseers.
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The brands that journalists work for have mostly self destructed; because they thought they would not be held accountable. Now no one trusts them.
And Ego / accountability is important for sources. Cite your sources!
What is interesting is that all of what I say about ego accountability and proper citation has always been part of what bloggers and hobbyists do. It is "journalists" who act like amateurs and by repressing their ego and hiding from accountability.
"In reality everything is a shared effort, and failing to acknowledge that smacks of ego."
It may be that all journalists are arrogant - just as it may be that all generalities are false - but there IS such a thing as individual effort that should be acknowledged and rewarded. Out in the real world, it is more often the case that the collective takes credit for an individual's effort than the other way around.
Look: humans are inherently gregarious, and they are hardwired to act collectively. it's how we emerged as a dominant species. The rush to deify individualism leads only to collective destruction.
Just try going it alone. Try taking off into the boonies and not using a single thing you didn't depend on others to invent or provide for you - starting with the clothes on your back. Don't even think about a tent or a sleeping bag. Don't you dare take a book on wilderness survival, or even a friend with you.
Just get out there and pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.
And let the rest of us work out our collective problems with collective solutions, okay?
It's all about community.