To the point: squinting forbidden
In response to my editorial in the last issue, I received an interesting comment from Vinzenz Wyss, professor at the IAM (Institute for Applied Media Studies) in Winterthur.
I quote: "I also believe that media criticism 2.0 has a chance. To date, however, such activities are still stuck at the level of partial/assembly publics. In order for them to gain significance, they would have to be tracked down by mass media publics and addressed in a range-intensive manner. To date, this has hardly been the case. Perhaps it is precisely because media journalism remains stuck in the self-observation trap."
Let's ask ourselves why media journalism is stuck in this self-observation trap. There are several reasons.
One is the gleeful and competitive one, which leads to the editorial errors of the competition being exploited with relish. Does that interest our readers? Certainly not. Is that media journalism? Yes, but only if our own mistakes are reported in just as much detail. The alleged background story about the competition goes in the same direction. Information from obscure insiders who want to know exactly what is going wrong at the competitor's publishing house or title, what personnel changes are planned but not yet communicated, can be combined with their own assumptions to reveal why the competitor's strategy has been crap over the last few years anyway. Actually, one wants to say that the competition is stupid, evil or deceitful, and thus tries to suggest that, of course, everything is completely different in one's own house. Are our readers interested in that? Certainly not. Is it media journalism? Yes, but only if the story is true and of a certain relevance.
Another reason is one that avoids conflict. Christian Meier, co-author of the book Basiswissen für die Medienpraxis (Basic Knowledge for Media Practice), said it aptly in an interview with Werbewoche: "If I as a journalist write a critical report about a business boss, I usually get recognition from professional colleagues. If, on the other hand, you criticize an editor-in-chief, it can happen that your own editor-in-chief gets in touch and asks, "Did you have to do that now?" Do our readers care? Yes. Is it media journalism? Yes. Let's free ourselves from the introspection trap. Media journalism isn't that difficult. You just have to stop looking at your colleagues, whether they're nice or bad, and ask yourself what's really relevant for my readers.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]
