Journalism’s biggest problem isn’t what you think

It is rare when university research has application in the real world. But a highly relevant study out of Syracuse University should be mandatory reading for executives in the journalism industry, not to mention Americans who consume news. The research reveals blinking red lights on the dashboard of the news industry.

The findings are based on what journalists themselves have to say about their profession. The researchers, led by Syracuse professor Lars Willnat, gathered survey data from 1,600 journalists across the country. The study builds on similar survey efforts going back to 1971.

The result that seemed to draw the most attention was that only 3.4 percent of American journalists say they are Republicans, while 36.4 percent say they are Democrats. Fifty years ago, the percentage of Democrat journalists was about the same as now, but Republican journalists were at 25.7 percent. Right-leaning media outlets were quick to point out this imbalance.

A political imbalance in American newsrooms is pretty much in the category of dog bites man these days; that is, it’s not really news. But it does raise the question of whether a wide range of perspectives can be found in the news agendas being paraded in front of news consumers.

Fewer moderate or right-of-center working journalists also likely means search committees tend to leave out prospective hires who don’t share accepted newsroom views, further squeezing out the viewpoint diversity needed in media organizations. While cause-effect is difficult to establish, it is probably no coincidence that media credibility has noticeably declined as newsrooms have lost political balance. Audiences just can’t trust news outlets that are perceived as biased and ideologically unbalanced.

The political disproportion of journalists, while noteworthy, is actually less ominous for the news profession than other results from the Syracuse research. For example, more than six in 10 journalists surveyed indicate that journalism is headed in the “wrong direction.” The journalists themselves report concern for declining public trust and acknowledge that the public perceives bias in the media. Given the level of awareness of this problem in the profession, the question logically follows as to why professional reporters are allowing this apparent cancer to continue.

Another warning light from the study is that the average age of professional journalists is now 47, quite a bit higher than the median age of the nation’s overall workforce, which is 42. A generation ago, the average age of journalists was 36. Beyond the “graying” of the profession, the percentage of journalists who report they are satisfied with their jobs has declined steadily over the years. This is hardly what the nation needs, reporters who are old and grumpy.

The research reveals another rather disturbing trend in the lives of journalists. More than 70 percent of journalists say they regularly gather information for their stories from social media sites. Social media has, indeed, widely infiltrated the consciousness and habits of Americans. But given the vacuous and wild west nature of the social media sphere, it is worth wondering whether this is a fruitful direction for serious journalists to go. Reporters of old talked directly to real newsmakers and went into the streets to converse with human beings.

A final discouraging factoid from the Syracuse study is that only 7.4 percent of journalists now say that “reaching the widest possible audience” is extremely important to their mission. There was a time when journalists wanted to reach wide, undifferentiated audiences to inform as many news consumers as possible.

Journalists now apparently feel comfortable with feeding their stories into niche audiences. While it is true that news consumers are trending towards echo chambers, it is disappointing that reporters have resigned themselves to serving narrowing slices of the citizenry. The concept of mass audiences is becoming more outdated every minute, but the surrender of journalists to feeding the whims of specialized news consumers will only complicate an increasingly polarized and divided nation.

The nation learns every day of the rapid decline of the journalism industry, with declining readership and viewership, layoffs at news organizations, flimsy news agendas and weakening financial models. The nation’s leaders should be rightly concerned about a citizenry that is uninformed, focused on frivolous matters and absorbing fake news and conspiracy content.

This Syracuse University study, with its under the hood look at journalists in the trenches, should raise grave concerns about whether the people currently in the news profession have the heft or vision to turn the industry around.

Journalism serves an essential mission to American culture and governance. Journalism can be the glue that keeps a complex society together and functioning. Journalism is too important to fail. A turnaround is needed sooner than later. The powers that be in the news industry owe it to the nation to figure it out.

Jeffrey M. McCall is a media critic and professor of communication at DePauw University. He has worked as a radio news director, a newspaper reporter and as a political media consultant. Follow him on Twitter @Prof_McCall.