Connecting the Dots
6/8/09 | 9 comments
editorial

Connecting the Dots


When anyone with a laptop and a cell phone camera can call himself or herself a “citizen journalist,” the important work that newspapers and professional journalists do can be devalued. The story of a recent winner of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for public service journalism should remind a cynical and fickle public of the worth of this medium, which, by the way, is the only profession enshrined in the First Amendment.

Alexandra Berzon, 29, a reporter with the Las Vegas Sun, was assigned stories about the high death rate in the construction business in the city. By reviewing the reports of construction accident deaths, Ms. Berzon perceived a pattern. Often, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administra-tion would meet with construction firms after a fatal accident and essentially negotiate an agreement. Increasingly, the reporter found, construction firms did not face the fines and corrective actions one might expect when basic safety code violations were found to have contributed to the deaths.

The individual deaths in the city of 600,000 might have been reported as a three-paragraph brief in the newspaper, Ms. Berzon said. But by painstakingly reviewing documents, asking questions of workers and construction managers, the story emerged.

The Pulitzer judges cited Ms. Berzon for her “courageous reporting” in pursuit of information, despite “closed doors and intimidation,” the newspaper reported in April. Her stories, along with accompanying editorials, led to congressional hearings and worker safety reforms.

Not bad for a young woman in her first reporter job.

Unlike so-called citizen journalists, a reporter such as Ms. Berzon had to run her stories by quizzical, skeptical and probably nervous editors. Since construction is a major industry in the city, business owners probably tried to pull strings at the newspaper and elsewhere to kill the stories. And like many newspapers suffering through declining revenues in a receding economy and evolving industry, the Sun’s management may have wondered if the stories were akin to biting the hands that fed it.

But this is what newspapers do. Journalists tackle tough stories, not necessarily to “afflict the comfortable,” as the early 20th century “muckraker” Finley Peter Dunne famously put it, but to shine a light in places that powerful institutions sometimes prefer remain dark. Responsible journalists do not have an agenda, beyond accurately telling a story they believe needs to be told.

Ms. Berzon’s editor presented her with the fact that nine construction workers had died in 16 months. “We want to know what’s going on,” he told her. And that’s what she did. Her stories involved diligence, as she carefully connected the dots to reveal a larger pattern that the public needed to per-ceive. This is the newspaper business at its best.

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Comments
9 comments on this item
On 6/8/09 at 11:51 AM, demsuk64 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

That's funny...I don't remember freedom of the press being narrowed to include only those who are considered "professional" journalists. Would Thomas Payne have been considered to be one? After all, he didn't investigate evil capitalist corporations for abuses against the little guy. I always understood the freedom to mean that any idiot with an opinion or fact wishing to publish it was free to do so, free from government retribution via imprisonment; the result is editorials like this.

I'm glad we have these "citizen journalists" as you call them, they may not sip the same wine as you or have attended college four 6 years in order to call themselves a "real" journalist but they are the purest representation of your "profession". Your editorial is arrogant, condescending, and elitist. Everything I have come to expect from a “journalist”. Now go investigate where all of my tax dollars are going, with the same gusto as you purport the First Amendment refers only to "professionals". I’ll be eagerly waiting for that editorial.

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On 6/8/09 at 1:27 PM, HarleyFox wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Journalism has turned into plane loads of reporters scouring dumpsters in Wasilla, Alaska looking for "dirt" on Governor Palin. Also a ton of articles following that circus telling us that Joe the Plumber is not really a plumber. Sprinkled among all of this great journalism is a cadre of coat holders for the Democrat Party. Not to mention the constant bum kissing of Barry Obama from the "professional journalists" every chance they get. I don't know who's world the editorial page editor of this newspaper lives in, but it is not the real world.

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On 6/8/09 at 4:20 PM, CeeBlue wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

---: this 'story' is akin to the botox laden left coast members of the ''entertainment industry'' getting together for an --award ceremony--that they might congratulate themselves.

'demsuck64' and 'HarleyFox' are spot on.

This editorial IS the epitome of hubris.

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On 6/8/09 at 6:06 PM, Seward wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

What's missing from Journalism today is INTEGRITY. It's the stuff that seperated Walter Cronkite from Dan Rather. We never knew Cronkite's Political leanings because he had integrity. Rather was a hack like the vast majority of todays journalists- both Print and Television.

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On 6/8/09 at 6:19 PM, taxedtodeath1 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Reporters and journalist now seem to be politically biased one way or the other, there is no reporting the story from both sides. Would like to see real journalism come back.

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On 6/8/09 at 6:36 PM, FrankC wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Can anyone remember when the BDN editors DIDN't just rubber stamp the democrat party or liberal talking points?

I don't recall. Hubris, astonishment, there are not enough words to describe or think about this editorial without laughing at

the irony !!

I wondered if they wrote this to 'see' how many non-liberal readers respond. And report to DHS , if you have non Obama stickers on your car.

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On 6/8/09 at 11:45 PM, PokeyBo wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Yes, I can recall it when the BDN was a Manchester Union-Leader wannabe, and it stood by Nixon to the end. It's been owned by Republcans forever,,,STILL IS, in point of fact.

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On 6/9/09 at 8:15 AM, mccojay wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

The reason citizen-journalists frighten reporters is because reporters must toe the political and commercial concerns of their corporations. they no longer report the truth, only a re-shaped idea that barely resembles the truth. Anyone been quoted correctly by a reporter? Didn't think so. Blogs and eye witnesses who release video and independent opinions are shaping our nation, not the "nets" or the big newspapers. Looking around the world, it is the bloggers and citizen journalists who are shut out by their governments when those gov'ts stop internet access to popular sites......keep an eye out for the feds to try to do this here too.

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On 6/10/09 at 12:49 PM, mokesmith wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

The point of the editorial is dead-on:

"When anyone with a laptop and a cell phone camera can call himself or herself a “citizen journalist,” the important work that newspapers and professional journalists do can be devalued."

I certainly agree with some of the posters above that there is value in citizen journalism. However, the point of this editorial is that real journalism (as opposed to opinion) takes more than typing out your ideas while sitting in your underwear in your house. It takes legwork, financial commitment from the newspaper to fund a story that may take months to investigate and connect the dots, bravery to persevere in the face of powerful interests trying to hide their wrongdoing, and, yes, demsuk64, it takes experience and training in journalism.

Putting on a bandaid does not make you a doctor, and sitting around blogging, with nothing more, does not make you a journalist.

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