(no subject)
Back in the day, around the end of high school, I pondered journalism as a career, despite already being skeptical about the news media in general. Nonetheless, I applied to an elite Journalism school and was disappointed when I didn't get in.
Now I'm glad I didn't. I'm too big a snob.
Seriously, I never realised how much studying history had affected me. I'm still holding on to that outdated ideal that historians are trying to contribute to a canon of 'truth' that probably never existed. Journalism ain't that.
Not that books should be the only resource, but journalists are, from what I can tell, relatively lazy. 'Research' consists largely of asking people questions about what knowledge they might have, rather than drawing on books, articles, statistics, etc. Finding stories for current affairs often involves reading newspapers and websites for stuff to probe into more deeply. History is about asking questions too, but you go to all sorts of resources to get your information. You analyse it to come to new conclusions. You can be smart about it without alienating a chunk of your (probably tiny) audience.
I think news makes an interesting source for historical research, but the content and form are so different that I'm totally frustrated by the so-called historical current affairs stories coming out of this show. They are invariably slightly corny slice-of-life stories or sentimental tales about fallen soldiers in a long-ago battle. (Occasionally, these two things are combined.)
Furthermore, I don't know how I'm going to survive in any work or academic environment where you're not guaranteed results. 'Yah, well, you know that REALLY INTERESTING story we've been working on for two months? Yah, well, it's been put on hold indefinitely. HA!'
There's also the question of pleasing everyone. Did you know that because of Hutton Inquiry, the CBC has to be even more careful about what it says? Or that, despite their 'best' efforts, the show I work on still gets complaints every single day from people who feel that we are the mouthpiece of the Liberal Party and that we're ignoring the West/Natives/Maritimers/Conservatives/etc? It's excrutiating that the idea of 'national' news in this country, on Canada's public broadcaster, means showing yet another parliamentary fuckwit holding yet another press conference in the centre block and footage of a blizzard somewhere in the hinterland. (By 'hinterland', I mean 'somewhere outside Toronto.')
Thing is, I have no real right to a) question their methods or b) pretend to be a proper historian. I do feel very privileged to work here at the CBC and I still do respect the organisation. I'm just glad I get to leave soon. And that I get to use my perplexed attitude to my advantage for my term assignment. Mwahaha.
Now I'm glad I didn't. I'm too big a snob.
Seriously, I never realised how much studying history had affected me. I'm still holding on to that outdated ideal that historians are trying to contribute to a canon of 'truth' that probably never existed. Journalism ain't that.
Not that books should be the only resource, but journalists are, from what I can tell, relatively lazy. 'Research' consists largely of asking people questions about what knowledge they might have, rather than drawing on books, articles, statistics, etc. Finding stories for current affairs often involves reading newspapers and websites for stuff to probe into more deeply. History is about asking questions too, but you go to all sorts of resources to get your information. You analyse it to come to new conclusions. You can be smart about it without alienating a chunk of your (probably tiny) audience.
I think news makes an interesting source for historical research, but the content and form are so different that I'm totally frustrated by the so-called historical current affairs stories coming out of this show. They are invariably slightly corny slice-of-life stories or sentimental tales about fallen soldiers in a long-ago battle. (Occasionally, these two things are combined.)
Furthermore, I don't know how I'm going to survive in any work or academic environment where you're not guaranteed results. 'Yah, well, you know that REALLY INTERESTING story we've been working on for two months? Yah, well, it's been put on hold indefinitely. HA!'
There's also the question of pleasing everyone. Did you know that because of Hutton Inquiry, the CBC has to be even more careful about what it says? Or that, despite their 'best' efforts, the show I work on still gets complaints every single day from people who feel that we are the mouthpiece of the Liberal Party and that we're ignoring the West/Natives/Maritimers/Conservatives/etc? It's excrutiating that the idea of 'national' news in this country, on Canada's public broadcaster, means showing yet another parliamentary fuckwit holding yet another press conference in the centre block and footage of a blizzard somewhere in the hinterland. (By 'hinterland', I mean 'somewhere outside Toronto.')
Thing is, I have no real right to a) question their methods or b) pretend to be a proper historian. I do feel very privileged to work here at the CBC and I still do respect the organisation. I'm just glad I get to leave soon. And that I get to use my perplexed attitude to my advantage for my term assignment. Mwahaha.