The other day I kicked the tires of a theory espoused by a freelance journalist from up in Boston. He was suggesting that anybody – whether blogger or “citizen journalist” or YouTube uploader – should be considered a ‘journalist’ if they do something that “genuinely looks like journalism.”
More important than labeling, in the author’s mind, was the thought that these ‘genuine-seeming journalists’ should be afforded the legal protections granted to accredited media members.
Well, not that it should come as too much of a surprise, but old school White House scribe Helen Thomas isn’t drinking that “everybody’s a journalist!” kool-aid.
Check out the Huffington Post Q&A with Thomas:
Do you think technology is changing [journalism]? That a good reporter will always find a venue because there are so many media outlets now?
No, but I do think it is kind of sad when everybody who owns a laptop thinks they're a journalist and doesn't understand the ethics. We do have to have some sense of what's right and wrong in this job. Of how far we can go. We don't make accusations without absolute proof. We're not prosecutors. We don't assume.
So if there's this amateur league of journalists out there, trying to do what you do...
It's dangerous.
This creature is an avatar of the free press.
See also Riehl World View.
Oh, and during her career, Helen never made a meaningful mistake.
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