Marvin Kalb, Professor of Press and Public Policy at Harvard University, gave a lecture on the current problems facing journalists to a full Hinman Forum yesterday evening.
"There has been a loss of trust and respect on the part of the press for the institution of government," Kalb said, citing Vietnam and Watergate as triggering events.
During Vietnam, Kalb explained, a credibility gap developed because of the difference between what the government told reporters and what they were seeing in the field. The Watergate cover-up, he said, further eroded the press' trust in the government.
Kalb's second reason for the change in journalistic attitudes is the rise of new technology like CNN and the Internet.
The most important change technology has caused, he said, was the 24-hour news cycle. In the past, a reporter had at least a day, if not more, to develop and write a story. However, with 24-hour cable and Internet news, he said, any breaking story must be developed and released as soon as possible.
"You don't have a chance to think anymore because you are under enormous competitive pressure to get the news out fast," Kalb said. This pressure to get the story as fast as possible increases the chance for error and the release of a story before it is confirmed, he said.
Additionally, Kalb cited profit margins as an influence over what news is reported in the media. "It is profit and not public service" that drives publishers and networks to cover issues, he said.
"If everything is a profit center then all the energy you put into getting good, solid, respectable news, you also must put into getting news which will make money," Kalb said.
Kalb's final explanation for the shift in the news business was the end of the Cold War, which deprived journalists of a central issue to report on.
Kalb said his overall feeling was that there has been a decline in journalistic integrity and news reporting, but that a free press is vital to the success of America.
"We live in this time of a downtrend of the press, but it is immeasurably better than anything anywhere else and it is a key to a free, open, and vibrant society," Kalb said.
Kalb is a professor and the director of the Shornstein Center for Media and Public Policy at Harvard University. He has worked in the field of journalism for over 40 years reporting, studying, writing and teaching about journalistic issues.
The speech was sponsored by the Rockefeller Center and the Rockefeller Public Issues Forum.
