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Ever wonder why the Herald does something? Or how? Or "what were they thinking?" Now you can find out. Executive Editor Ken Robertson and Managing Editor Rick Larson will do their best to explain what happens in the TCH newsroom - and why. |
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closeTuesday, Jun. 30, 2009
Iran reports: Old journalism stitched together the new
By Ken Robertson, Herald Executive Editor
Iran’s ruling cabal seemed to think that if it followed the dictator’s handbook and kicked out foreign journalists, its election fiddling and violent suppression of anti-government demonstrators might receive less attention from the world.
But once the so-called mainstream media were gone, the news reports did not dwindle. Instead they exploded in incredible detail, including vivid audio, photos and video, on the world’s news and information websites, television, radio and newspapers.
One could easily argue the suppression backfired because thousands of Iranians filed their own reports. Millions around the world have seen one of the most brutal acts Iran’s theocratic thuggery committed — a young woman named Neda who was shot and left on the street to bleed to death — because her death was caught on video by two people and released to the news media.
As all of this on-the-spot, moment-by-moment reporting was occurring, it gushed onto the web in a flood of information no one person could monitor or probably even imagine.
But the mainstream media’s thousands of editors in newsrooms across the world sifted through it all to select the best for a world hungry for the latest news from Iran.
According to the New York Times, CNN alone received 5,200 submissions from the people of Iran and approved 180 of them for use on its newscasts. That’s a stunning example of how the new media and the old melded to present a comprehensive and comprehendible package of news.
Without those editors to sift through it all, no one could have gotten a clear picture of what was happening in Iran.
After reviewing hundreds of bits and pieces of each day’s events, the world’s editors did what they’ve done for decades — make sense out of the chaos of a dramatic news event.
One of my journalism profs repeatedly told me and my classmates back in the late 1960s that every reporter needs a good editor.
It’s a value that still serves us well in this new media world.
w Ken Robertson: 582-1520; krobertson@tricityherald.com
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