Thursday, July 22, 2010

Quest for innocence in political journalism

I read this article early this year but didn't want to post it here because of politics.  I changed my mind now since the essence of it is not about political ideology but its grim remainder on how we forgot what journalism is all about.  In the chaos of  political hogwash, flash news et al we lost the journalistic sanctity. This is not only bad for democracy but it also dampens the standards of common sense of the crowds.

"This is original reporting at a very high level of commitment to public service; it is expensive, difficult, and increasingly rare in a news business suffering under economic collapse.

So I want to make it absolutely clear that I treasure this kind of journalism and indeed devoured Barstow’s report when it came online. (Although I wish it had been twice as long.) And I have no problem with his decision to confine himself to description of the movement, rather than evaluating its goodness or badness. The first task is to understand, and that is why we need reporters willing to go out there and witness the phenomenon, interview the participants, pore over the texts and struggle with their account until they feel they have it right."

One of most important thing I have learnt from Max is to look at the world with innocent eyes and to shed all the preconceived notions. It comes naturally to him but its a constant life long struggle for us. Nevertheless, its worth the effort since one gets to see the world in a completely new perspective.

Innocence is different from immaturity and ignorance. Reinhold Niebhur was against innocence but I believe its only because people were masquerading their laziness and perpetual adolescence as innocence. Very convenient right?

“That's what it takes to be a hero, a little gem of innocence inside you that makes you want to believe that there still exists a right and wrong, that decency will somehow triumph in the end”
-Lise Hand

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