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Democracy’s
Libretto
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"Election
Day is the day on which we remind ourselves that
our purpose is essential to democracy."
- James M. Naughton -
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By
JAMES M. NAUGHTON
President, The Poynter Institute
Happy
holiday.
Election
Day isn’t formally a national holiday. It should be.
But it’s easily the holiest day of the journalist’s
calendar.
It’s
the day that demonstrates our purpose.
We talk
a lot -- especially when in our most defensive mode -- about
the virtues of the First Amendment, about the community’s
reliance on us as watchdogs, about the justifications for
media businesses to have special legal consideration.
This
is the day that gives meaning to that rhetoric.
The
bond between journalism and democracy was reinforced for me
the other day when Patricia Callahan, a reporter for The
Wall Street Journal, phoned to ask what I thought morning
newspapers might do if the outcome of the presidential election
is too close to call on deadline.
That
was a no-brainer: Forget the deadline. Hold the paper. Wait
for the outcome. If the outcome comes too late for effective
delivery of an incomplete newspaper, print a complete one
-- an extra! -- as soon as the outcome is known. This will
cost money, money well spent.
Callahan’s
focus was on marketing what some mistakenly conclude is a
dying medium: What, she wondered, would readers think of newspapers
if the newspapers were unable to tell readers the outcome
of a national election?
Not
much, I agreed.
It’s
no excuse to say, We’ll tell you the outcome on our
website. Just as it was unconscionable for a national
broadcast network to fail to provide live coverage of campaign
debates, even if the network could say, Tune in to our
cable channel for real news.
Callahan’s
questions were reminders of a larger theme, whether those
who are given Constitutional protection to create newspapers
or broadcasts or websites remain conscious of their obligations
to tell news without fear or favor.
Election
Day is the day on which we remind ourselves that our purpose
is essential to democracy. And that how and how well we do
it, not whether we ramp profit up from 19 to 21 percent, is
the essence of how long we’ll merit the respect of the
marketplace.
We can
write stories for ourselves, or for readers. We can disparage
an unwashed electorate, or inform citizens thoroughly about
those who serve the community. We can bemoan mercenary pressures
causing decline of the newsroom, or make the case for improving
the news report.
This
is the day the people rewrite democracy’s anthem. Every
ballot sounds a note in the melody. Journalists write the
libretto.
Make
it sing.
Happy
holiday.
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