To the point: do good and talk about it
The credibility of the media is an issue not only in Switzerland, but also abroad. Not entirely innocent are the media professionals themselves: Errors by individual publishers or journalists, the ever-increasing mixing of PR and journalism, blatant violations of the "Declaration of the Duties and Rights of Journalists," theft of images and films on the Internet, bashing of colleagues and competitors, and many other unpleasant things are gnawing away at the credibility of the media.
As if that were not enough, media researchers and self-proclaimed media critics never tire of lamenting the constantly declining quality of journalism in countless blogs, pronouncements and interviews.
These lawsuits have a good and a bad side. The good side is that journalists and publishers are perhaps thinking about their work for once. That they might think about whether the constantly repeated cost-cutting measures, in addition to short-term financial "successes," are not threatening the quality of journalism in the medium and long term, and whether the ever-increasing pressure from advertisers is leading to an inedible stew of PR and court reporting.
The bad thing about this is that public criticism, which is justified and important in itself, leads to uncertainty among media consumers and, even worse, to a rejection of the media at some point. Many people today already have the feeling that the media are actually no longer needed to convey information. "Unfiltered, objective" information and background reports can be found free of charge in abundance on the Internet. They think so and never dream of questioning this information. For the adepts of this opinion, only a few topics remain for the media: Gossip, sex, lifestyle and consumer tips.
For two years now, the association Investigativ. ch. According to its statutes, the aim of the association is "to preserve media culture by enhancing the quality of media reporting through professional research and to promote young talent by teaching research techniques. The purpose of the association is also the cultivation of investigative journalism".
It is supported by a number of publishers, SRF, MAZ and the Institute for Applied Media Science. A great thing, but unfortunately it takes place to the exclusion of the public. An interview in the journi magazine Edito is good, but an equally detailed one in Blick or Tages-Anzeiger would be better and would bring more to the media.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]
