Journalism: Comprehensive and Proportional

The book Elements of Journalism states that comprehensiveness and proportion are keys to accuracy. There is a wealth of information from which journalists can report. They cannot cover everything. Journalists essentially decide what is important and what is not. They need to be careful not to be swayed by what will sell. A journalist that devotes too much time and space to topics of little importance will eventually lose credibility. News should include diversity in theory. Journalists should not simply write stories that appeal to the demographic of those purchasing their newspaper. The book says, to do so would be like drawing a map and not including the small countries. However, not focusing news reporting on affluent readers has a high cost. Newspapers are sold at a loss. In the past, these costs were made up through advertising. However, if advertisers are not willing to pay for space in newspapers that will not be read, the news organizations will lose money. In business we learn specialization, specialization, specialization. This is the key to effectiveness. Journalism is in a quandary. News organizations can focus on being diverse in reporting, but how long will they stay in business? Each news organization must decide for itself.