New Delhi: The New York Times (NYT) controversy, which eventually led to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor last week, raises larger questions about whether the definition of journalism now needs to be rewritten, ThePrint’s editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta said in episode 495 of Cut The Clutter.
The classical understanding of journalism would mean it should be fair, objective, and seeming to be objective — but the controversy has ignited a debate about whether that definition works any longer.
The discussion also becomes about race relations, how the media covers race and importantly, diversity within newsrooms.
But while the NYT’s clarification after the outrage over their piece, may seem like a big moral call, there’s also a commercial and a business aspect to it, which cannot be overlooked.
All-important business models
Abe Rosenthal, the former editor of The New York Times, was a very conservative editor, and he was known to be very strict with reporters who tended to veer too far to the left. When he died, a line was engraved on his tombstone that said — ‘He kept the paper straight’. Now the question is — what does it mean to keep the paper straight?
Also, how straight can you keep the paper these days in such polarised times in America where President Donald Trump hurls abuse at you.
And in India, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi may not do it directly, but so many people on social media and elsewhere attack journalists all the time, Gupta said.
Today, many things are getting mixed up. There is politics, there is culture. And then there are the all-important business models.
There was a time when advertisers paid you a lot of money. So your subscriber paid you some for the copy of the paper, and advertisers paid the rest. Now, advertisers are paying less — one because they have less money due to the economy and second, because advertising is available on the web at much cheaper prices.
So newspapers, media organisations now have to get subscription revenues on the web. But there is a general belief they have to agree with what you are saying since people will fund what they agree with, and so will foundations.
And so while taking all these calls, the business aspect also needs to be kept in mind.
Changing definitions of journalism
According to media columnist Ben Smith’s article, the debate about changing definitions of journalism goes back to former The Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery and how he began covering race.
In August 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Among the reporters who went to cover the incident was Lowery, then with The Washington Post.
Lowrey soon had a dust-up over the incident with MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough on CNN’s morning show.
After that event, Lowrey began talking about race issues from inside The Washington Post’s newsroom in a way which the editors did not approve of. He was then asked to leave the organisation by Marty Baron, the executive editor of The Washington Post, who comes from a more conservative school of thought.
Smith believes this churn in the American newsrooms started with Lowrey’s experience.
So Ben Smith, in his article has spoken to journalists from different newsrooms and generations. The question remains — What are your core values? Is it the truth, or is it the perception of objectivity?
The controversy
The controversy began with NYT publishing an op-ed by Senator Tom Cotton, calling for the use of troops in American cities.
Cotton’s article was in response to the widespread protests taking place across the country over the killing of 44-year-old African-American George Floyd by a police officer earlier last month.
Many took offence to NYT publishing such a piece, including many NYT staffers.
Following the uproar, the NYT editors issued a statement, saying the piece did not meet their editorial standards.
Watch the full episode here: