John S. Knight Fellowships for Professional Journalists

Praise for El Faro

El Faro, a Latin American news site founded by Knight alumnus Carlos Dada of El Salvador, has just celebrated 10 years existence. Knight Fellowships Director Jim Bettinger wrote this essay in congratulation.

El Faro and the Challenges of Journalism

Jim Bettinger
May 19, 2008

When we consider the achievements of El Faro on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, we can only be hopeful for the future. That such a “publication” has not only survived, but also thrived, is evidence that the promise of online journalism is being kept.

The last 10 years have been momentous for journalism and for its effect on democracy. At the time El Faro was founded, politics in the United States were mired in the Clinton scandals, and many thoughtful journalists in this country worried that their work was being debased.

Just the year before, in 1997, a group calling itself the Committee of Concerned Journalists formed. The group began a two-year examination of journalism as it was being practiced and as it should be practiced. Out of it came nine core principles, with a 10th added last year:

  1. Journalism's first obligation is to the truth.
  2. Its first loyalty is to citizens.
  3. Its essence is a discipline of verification.
  4. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.
  5. It must serve as an independent monitor of power.
  6. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.
  7. It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.
  8. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.
  9. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.
  10. Citizens have rights, but also responsibilities, when it comes to news.

These principles are explained more fully in the book, “The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect,” which has been translated into 23 languages. The introduction is available online here: http://journalism.org/node/72, and explains better than I can in these few words principles that we all can expect journalists to adhere to.

(Isn't it wonderful to be able to read the phrase, “is available online here”? Ten years ago, not many people realized how widespread that would be. Now, many of us just assume that any significant article will be available with a click of a mouse, and are surprised if it isn't.)

Yet while many of us were wrestling with these issues of public distrust, of reporting unverified rumors, of pandering to lowest common denominators, of cheapened journalism values, the ground was shifting under our feet. It's all familiar now, when so many people get so much of their news online rather than from a newspaper, from a television program or a radio broadcast. But in 1998, it was hard to see how fast and how much journalism would change.

Consider the landscape of journalism in 2008. I'm most familiar with the situation in the United States, but everything I learn about what is happening in Latin America and in other parts of the world suggests that the changes are global. It's happening everywhere, just not at the same rate. (William Gibson, the author of “Neuromancer” and coiner of the phrase, “cyberspace,” has said for years, “The future is here – it's just not evenly distributed.”)

The challenges for 21st century journalism are enormous. Audiences have fragmented, so that in some ways we no longer have a common discussion about important issues in our newspapers and broadcast stations. The business model that made the news media profitable, and therefore independent, is under serious assault, and no one knows for sure what will replace it. Bloggers and others without traditional journalism training have assumed a greater role in political discourse.

And these challenges are set against a backdrop of increasing threats to the independence of the news media. The threats are particularly acute throughout Latin America. The Inter American Press Association cites in particular the Venezuelan government's hostility to independent newspapers and journalists. But Venezuela is not alone. The IAPA also noted attacks aimed at undermining the credibility of the press in Uruguay, Honduras, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Argentina. Moreover, the IAPA reported, “the recent increase in state-owned media outlets in the region is clear evidence of new efforts by various governments to control information.”

That is why a news publication like El Faro is so important. It is independent. As governments and economic forces become more powerful, it is left to journalists to provide a counterbalance. Journalists report news that people in power do not want you to hear, and often those people fight back, especially if they think journalists are weak or vulnerable. In my country, there have been several high-profile cases of journalists facing jail because they refused to reveal confidential sources. But more thoughtful people are realizing that if the government can put journalists in jail for this reason, it will reduce their ability to report information the government doesn't want the public to have.

Mike Pence, a U.S. congressman who is sponsoring a federal shield law, put it this way: “As a conservative who believes in limited government, I believe the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press.”

Journalism is fun, yet it's important. Journalists must never forget that, and even as they refuse to take themselves too seriously, they must not trivialize their calling. For it is a calling, a vocation, and one that continues to be vital to democratic societies.