Thursday, July 17, 2008
Comparing journalism in Britain and the United States
Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times has an interesting piece about the quite different ways in which American and British journalists regard themselves.
My first encounter with the very different culture of US journalism came when I was working as a freelance in Washington about 20 years ago. Every now and then, I would wander into the Chicago Tribune offices next door - but I could see that something about me was upsetting their bureau chief. Eventually, he approached and said: "Would you mind wearing a tie when you come into the bureau?"
American journalists, I realised, regard themselves as members of a respectable profession - like lawyers or bankers. Their British counterparts generally prefer the idea that they are outsiders. They like to quote the adage of the late Nicholas Tomalin that: "The only qualities essential for real success in journalism are rat-like cunning, a plausible manner and a little literary ability."
The British sometimes argue that because American journalists have joined the establishment they are easily duped by "senior sources". The US press's supine role in the run-up to the Iraq war is cited as evidence.
Maybe so. On the other hand, it was painstaking and daring American journalism that uncovered the Watergate scandal.
Certainly, after a while in Washington I began to develop a grudging respect for my neighbours at the Tribune. I admired the fact that their investigative team would work for months on a single article. On the British paper I then worked for, an "investigation" was something we started on Tuesday and published on Sunday. I was also sure that when American papers used the phrase "sources say", there really were some sources. I was not always so confident when that phrase appeared in my own newspaper [not meaning the Financial Times].
Since most of what political bloggers do is derivative (in the sense that it is reaction to mainstream journalism), Rachman's column is useful perspective for both writers and readers of blogs. For starters, we should all be a bit careful about turning small items in the British press into blog-bursts of outrage.
1 Comments:
By 
, at
Thu Jul 17, 08:52:00 AM:
I also view American journalists as professionals. Professional liberal prostitutes.
