Editorial: Real news is still in your daily newspaper

Why bother with the conventional and traditional? Photo / File

Integrity is vulnerable to modernisation, efficiency and the vast leap in technology that the internet has brought to the world and, included in that vulnerability, is journalism.

Journalism is based on some old-fashioned concepts of morality, accuracy and truth-seeking, but it also enjoyed, for a long time, a considerable power base. In the last century, there was really no way you could publish anything, other than in the format of media - primarily newspapers. Advertising was physical, with billboards and posters, but the best method was to have your ad looking colourful in a newspaper.

That power base is reduced considerably, because anybody can publish online, and anyone can place ads online.

The question could then be asked: why bother with the conventional and traditional?

The traditional remains strong because, while people may have mixed feelings on whether they like reporters or not, they also know perfectly well that a journalist is the only person who can, on behalf of their community, pick up a phone and demand answers. A keyboard warrior, sitting in a dressing gown in front of a computer screen, can't do that. A blogger is about opinion. Now, it can be good, researched opinion, but it's just one side. A reporter's job is to get the other side.

I see a great deal of anger in blogs, in Facebook posts, in postings in the comments section on the website. I suspect some of that anger is because they have all this publishing ability at their fingertips, thanks to the internet, but it carries no more weight than an opinion in a pub debate. And generally, there's a lot of anger in people today. The internet has allowed people to be "brave" behind a pseudonym and the ability to be able to express a complete argument without interruption. Given that, many choose to express their anger.

Journalists may or may not be angry, but their training keeps them on point. Reporting is infinitely more satisfying, is a great deal harder to do and has the weight of integrity. When you get past the anger on the internet, read the news.