On the first day of his upper level ComJour class,  Dr Brett Oppegaard (@brettoppegaard) asked his journalism students to define journalism. We couldn’t do it. A few years ago we would have done it with ease, but in 2013 we were unable to clearly define what qualifies as journalism today.

We were given the task to find a media object that made us question the definition of journalism, and to post it on our blog.

I looked at newspaper articles and  some magazine articles in print form (stop laughing at me!)  and did not post to my blog. I found a really pathetic obituary in the Oregonian that made it clear the deceased died unloved and uncared for, and I found a Better Homes & Gardens rehash of a rehash about throw rugs that screamed TRITE CLICHE.

Well, too late to repair that error, but I do want to repost here part of a report written by Belinda Alzner of the Canadian Journalism Project, where the CAJ Ethics Committee attempted to address the question, What is Journalism? Here is part of their answer as posted on July 17, 2012

What is Journalism?

…we asked ourselves the question: “What is NOT journalism?” Discussing what might distinguish journalism from various other types of work (e.g. activism, social science, memoir, and aggregation), we came up with the suggestion that journalism and journalists might be distinguished from other types of activity and actors under three headings: a disinterested purpose, the act of creation, and a particular set of methods.

It is arguably correct that most journalists ascribe to a largely common set of values, and that various guidelines and codes seek to express and define that ethical heritage. Our proposal declines to do that. Instead, we argue that journalists, and hence journalism, can be recognized and distinguished, not by what they believe or think, but by their actions. These specifically journalistic types of action may be recognized as follows.

1) Purpose: An act of journalism sets out to combine evidence-based research and verification with the creative act of storytelling. Its central purpose is to inform communities about topics or issues that they value.

Journalists draw their own conclusions about the necessity and direction of a story — and of the underlying veracity of facts. Such conclusions are drawn in a disinterested way – that is, independently of consideration of the effect, for good or ill , of the coverage provided. The economic or other benefits to companies, organizations or movements do not drive journalists’ choices. Due to this definitive idea of disinterest, the journalist neither receives nor anticipates a direct benefit, financial or otherwise, from coverage. Any connection or association the journalist, her editor or employer, has with individuals or groups who might benefit from publication of the information is made clear to audiences (although disclosure by itself does not remedy a conflict of interest or, therefore, turn an act of propaganda into an act of journalism). Journalists’ careers, and those of their managers and employers do, at times, benefit indirectly from their coverage choices, but potential benefits, be they direct or indirect, play no role in editorial choices.

2) Creation: All journalistic work — whether words, photography or graphics — contains an element of original production.

Journalism often involves a shared perspective of a team of people whose knowledge and creativity contribute to the final production. Journalism is fact-based; history often shapes the context of a story. In addition, the creative element is bounded by time. A breaking news story may be a single line which, while brief, still involves the skill of news judgment in selecting pertinent facts. Subsequent stories are the result of more in-depth reporting dealing with the investigation of facts and the further organizing of information to give a deeper context to storytelling.

3) Methods: Journalistic work provides clear evidence of a self-conscious discipline calculated to provide an accurate and fair description of facts, opinion and debate at play within a situation.

This notion is not the same idea as “balance” (since a lopsided debate should necessarily be portrayed as lopsided), or as the more complex notion of “objectivity” (see Ward 2010; Schudson, 2001; White, 2010; Brisbane, 2010; Brisbane, 2011). Specifically, the journalist’s craft includes certain recognizable approaches, such as some combination, but not necessarily all, of the following:

• A commitment to researching and verifying information before publication.
• A consistent practice of providing rebuttal opportunity for those being criticized, and of presenting alternate perspectives, interpretations and analyses.
• The use of plain language, and story-telling techniques, as a means to attract a broad rather than an expert audience (Adam, 1993).
• An honest representation of intent to sources.
• A practice of conveying the source of facts.
• A practice of correcting errors.
• Publication.

Conclusion

Non-journalists will fulfill some of these functional criteria, some of the time. The work of those who do not see themselves as journalists may well be consistent with some of these descriptors. Examples may include some historians, some ethnographers, and independent commentators of various kinds. Works that come close to meeting the criteria could include a book review, a carefully crafted and considered letter to the editor, or a thorough, thoughtful comment on a piece of news by someone without any interest in the matter beyond intellectual.

But we propose that for most purposes, the above three criteria create a three-way definitional “veto”. That is, all three criteria must be met in order for an act to qualify as journalism. Failure to pass any one of these tests means that the act in question is not journalism, and only journalists will meet — or, at least, attempt to meet — all these criteria consistently, fully and deliberately.