Spring Break
Journalist speaks on media duties
Maddie Hanna
Issue date: 9/9/05 Section: News
Renowned media commentator Ken Auletta once saw New Yorker editor William Shawn shell out $80,000 to add eight pages to the magazine and run Auletta's piece in its entirety.
"I know that will never happen again," Auletta told those attending Thursday's Red Smith lecture at Notre Dame's Hesburgh Center. "He [Shawn] believed that we worked for the readers, not the shareholders."
Auletta's lecture focused on the issue of who journalists work for, a question he believed is increasingly polarizing the journalistic profession.
"Perhaps the biggest problem in journalism is the cult divide between journalists and corporate owners," said Auletta, who explained the differing philosophies of each camp.
CEOs, Auletta said, want journalists to abandon their "elitist" ideas and "give the public more of what it wants," not just what it needs.
"In the end, you have to listen to your customers," Auletta said, playing the part of corporate owner. "Isn't a good business supposed to understand its customers?"
The problem arises, Auletta said, when journalists focusing on their "craft" clash with the business approach to their profession.
"Journalists prize independence, not teamwork," Auletta said. "Journalists understand waste is inherent to good journalism ... that good reporting and writing is hard to quantify."
Although as a journalist Auletta understands the anti-corporate sentiment, he made several concessions.
"It's wrong to portray our bosses in a cartoon fashion as greedy capitalists unconcerned with anything besides maximum profits," he said. "Most journalistic enterprises need to make a profit [and provide a range of news]. But too often this journalistic supermarkets have become specialty stores."
After citing five major "vices" in today's journalism - synergy, infatuation with brand, lack of humility, hubris and bias - Auletta gave an eight-step solution to the progressively widening rift.
"I know that will never happen again," Auletta told those attending Thursday's Red Smith lecture at Notre Dame's Hesburgh Center. "He [Shawn] believed that we worked for the readers, not the shareholders."
Auletta's lecture focused on the issue of who journalists work for, a question he believed is increasingly polarizing the journalistic profession.
"Perhaps the biggest problem in journalism is the cult divide between journalists and corporate owners," said Auletta, who explained the differing philosophies of each camp.
CEOs, Auletta said, want journalists to abandon their "elitist" ideas and "give the public more of what it wants," not just what it needs.
"In the end, you have to listen to your customers," Auletta said, playing the part of corporate owner. "Isn't a good business supposed to understand its customers?"
The problem arises, Auletta said, when journalists focusing on their "craft" clash with the business approach to their profession.
"Journalists prize independence, not teamwork," Auletta said. "Journalists understand waste is inherent to good journalism ... that good reporting and writing is hard to quantify."
Although as a journalist Auletta understands the anti-corporate sentiment, he made several concessions.
"It's wrong to portray our bosses in a cartoon fashion as greedy capitalists unconcerned with anything besides maximum profits," he said. "Most journalistic enterprises need to make a profit [and provide a range of news]. But too often this journalistic supermarkets have become specialty stores."
After citing five major "vices" in today's journalism - synergy, infatuation with brand, lack of humility, hubris and bias - Auletta gave an eight-step solution to the progressively widening rift.