Avoiding unpleasant news and undesirable opinions is a worrisome result of the explosion of information on the Internet, says Gerald Seib, Washington Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal.
Inaccurate blogs, political mouthpieces and just plain nonsense threaten the credibility of Washington journalists, as well as their ability to tell unpopular, yet important, stories.
Seib addressed the inaugural class of the Introduction to Washington for College Journalists seminar today, presented by the National Press Foundation and underwritten with a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.
Covering the capital has changed dramatically since Seib first joined The Journal’s Washington outfit in 1980. Polarization, animosity and an influx of wealth has made Washington journalism less satisfying than in the past, though the role it plays in the United States’ democracy remains critical, he said.
The information to do that reporting is harder to come by since the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. Citing the continuing “War on Terror”, government departments and sources are suppressing information and causing media outlets to make difficult judgment calls, Seib said.
No doubt journalism inside the Beltway has changed rapidly during the past decade, Seib said, but it’s nothing the nation hasn’t experienced in the past. He said the range of opinion and polarized media outlets are similar to the political pamphleteering and role of the press during the 18th Century.
With time, however, people are likely to return to trustworthy, objective media outlets for their news, Seib said.