Pomo What?
Lucy’s article on what ever it is actually on has some interesting points none the less. I’ve done cultural studies subjects in undergrad and great slabs of discussion were had in classes about post modernism and I still don’t quite get what Lucy is on about.
He begins however by suggesting that the role of a journalist is not dissimilar to that of a photographer. He is perhaps suggesting that we as journalists are required to capture the moment or the incident but not personalise it in any way, that is not our role or responsibility. As I’ve made clear elsewhere I question that whole idea a lot of the time, there are no doubt times when Lucy’s claim is very much valid.
Two of the examples that are provided in this article are perfectly good arguments for this claim. When it comes to moments like the public questioning whether Henson is a photographer or a perv or again asking were the children thrown over board or did they jump to safety. In both these situation it is indisputable that the actions of the media around these events were fuel to a rather dangerous fire.
So how does one deal with these situations as a journalist. The reality, it would seem, is that the media didn’t need to play any part in the initial concerns over these events. The Henson exhibition was in the public eye any way and discussion was going to happen in the form of letters to the editor, talk back, tweets, facebook status updates and god knows what else. The Children over board debacle was caused by the government of the time releasing the photos to the media, that proved worth while to them didn’t it.
The reality of this industry however is that sadly in a lot of cases it’s a numbers game. As we saw in State of Play, when we make the decision to wait on a story and try and get the story straight the other teams can destroy you by deciding not to wait… suddenly you’re behind the eight ball and your editor is ready to fire you. So, do you act now and come across as the opinionated person who is creating the news and leading the pack or do you wait and pick up the pieces. Can one actually cover these kinds of stories from the head of the pack without looking like you are putting a spin on the issue
