by Daniel T. Zanoza, Executive Editor
Most purists would agree the standards applied to the field of journalism have declined during recent years. From tawdry periodicals to the proliferation of the Internet, the art of the written word has been spread thin. At one time, there were hard and fast rules adhered to by reporters, columnists and authors which gave the practice of journalism continuity.
Today, as in other professional and artistic forms, rules no longer seem to matter and with this new paradigm has come a devolution of journalistic standards.
A case in point regarding how the lines between journalism and gossip have become blurred is demonstrated in a series of columns posted by a Midwestern blog called the Illinois Review (IR) [www.illinoisreview.typepad.com/]. Recently, the IR blog posted a well-written series on Illinois politics. The author offered scathing criticism of Republican Party leadership and how the state GOP lacks credibility. The second part in this series addressed questions dealing with financial contributions, citing a lack of integrity demonstrated by Party officials. To this point, there has only been three installments of this series which the blog calls "occasional" and "ongoing". Presumably, the meaning is ... whenever the contributor to the IR blog deems it politically necessary, another column will be posted on the site.
At a glance, again, the series is well-written, it sounds reasonable and may or may not be factual, depending on one's political perspective. However, there is a glaring problem with the series. The name ascribed to the author of record, Tyler Jones, is fictitious. There is no Tyler Jones. Make no mistake. The series is presented as being written by a legitimate contributor to the blog. Indeed, a disclaimer at the top of the Illinois Review states: "All statements made on this blog are those of the authors' only. Any disputes must be addressed to the writers, who are solely responsible for their posts. We welcome comments; but reserve the right to deny or remove them. Content may not be used without permission of the authors."
Questions regarding the identity of not only Tyler Jones, but John Ruskin, another Illinois Review contributor, first surfaced in the comment section on another blog, Illinois Reason, [www.illinoisreason.wordpress.com/] which wrote: Have you ever seen "articles" written by "Tyler Jones" or "John Ruskin" on Illinois Review? Those people don't exist. Both are actually ...
The identity of Tyler Jones was again questioned on the comment section of The Capitol Fax Blog Mobile Edition [http://www.thecapitolfaxblog.com/wp-mobile] when a comment was posted stating: ... on that Illinois Review blog thingee. Liz Gorman gets ripped too of course. It's supposedly from one "Tyler Jones" but that's actually ...
RFFM.org attempted to find out whether or not the speculation was true regarding Tyler Jones and/or John Ruskin. Via e-mail, the following comment was issued by one of Illinois Review's operating officials, Dennis LaComb:
Dan:
Thank you for your query.
We don't provide information about our contributors unless they determine to do it themselves.
Regards,
Dennis + Fran
Dennis LaComb and Fran Eaton are self-described owners of the Illinois Review and they offered no further comments regarding the true identity of Tyler Jones, after numerous inquiries by RFFM.org. LaComb's response flies in the face of IR's disclaimer which, essentially, once again, states, "...All statements made on this blog are those of the authors' only. Any disputes must be addressed to the writers, who are solely responsible for their posts..."
Obviously, the operative question is: How can queries be put to authors who exist as pseudonyms alone?
Hopefully, this article will not be construed as an attack on the Illinois Review. But it can be interpreted as an indictment of the Illinois Review and its failure to adhere to journalistic standards. The problems which arise when publications post material under fictitious names are myriad. Who is responsible for the posting? Does the target of the fictitious author have access to a redress of grievances?
American society is founded on certain principles. In the area of law, we have the right to confront our accusers. The same principle should hold true in journalism.
Not specifically addressing the Illinois Review situation, of which he said he was unaware, Bernie Schoenburg of the Springfield State Journal-Register, [http://www.sj-r.com/] told RFFM.org, "In general, and not about any particular case, if something is published anonymously or under a fictitious name, that means there's a lack of accountability. If our newspaper were to publish writing from a person we do not identify or someone using a false name, that could certainly open the paper up to legitimate criticism."
Of course, there are situations when pseudonyms have been legitimately used by authors in the past. However, in the case of the IR series, an appropriate criteria for such literary license was not met.
"Credibility is perhaps the most important thing a journalist can have," said Frank Whittaker, Station Manager/Vice-President of News, NBC 5 Chicago [http://www.nbc5.com/]. "And trust is a key component of credibility. A reader or viewer must be able to trust that what the journalist is reporting is true. If the identity of the journalist is not known, that becomes very difficult."
Mr. Whittaker was also not aware of the Illinois Review series and was commenting in general terms about the rules of journalism.
RFFM.org will not speculate on why the Illinois Review would use fictitious names for contributors to their blog. The purpose of this column is not to ascertain any motives. The criticism levied within the series may well be based in truth. But the fact the IR editors did not present the series according to the rules of journalism invalidates the postings and may cause others to search for ulterior motives as to why the Illinois Review owners and editors felt it was necessary to take this tact and, by doing so, the Illinois Review opens itself to criticism.
With the 24 hour news cycle brought about by cable television, along with the plethora of web sites and blogs, journalism will probably get worse before it gets better. The dominant media cannot be excluded from this criticism. The truth is, with this departure from accountability will come more responsibility by those who seek out information from any source and that's probably the way it always should have been.
Part 1 of Series What's Wrong With Journalism? Russert Tribute Overblown, Journalists Think They're Celebrities can be read at the following link:
http://rffm.typepad.com/republicans_for_fair_medi/2008/06/part-1-of-series-whats-wrong-with-journalism-russert-tribute-overblown-journalists-think-theyre-celebrities.html -- posted June 15th.
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