Report on 2 interesting elements in, “A Short History of Journalism for Journalists: A Proposal and Essay” by James W. Carey. Help explain why those elements are important.
The entire article is ultimately making a case for the importance of journalism by laying out how and why it was developed through history. One big claim/theme that was constantly brought up was the importance of journalism on the public’s ability to survive. The first moment of this that stood out to me was at the bottom of page 5. Carey says, “One cannot imagine a people surviving if they failed to report and take account… successes and failures in the economic struggle for survival.” In other words, how can a society continue if it does not learn from what’s recorded in the past and improve? Carey notes on the next page that there are also recorded examples of failures to warn the people of a possible future. It’s also interesting to note that this record-keeping and discussion of politics hasn’t always been welcome. When journalism was being developed in France with the tree of Cracow, the discussion of matters of the crown made those being discussed uncomfortable. So, this was ultimately outlawed which is important because it shows that, back then, those in power sought to control the public discussion of the press. It’s good to know that nowadays, we have a bond between journalism and democracy that is protected by our constitution (page 13). Knowing about the crown/executive bodies that run our countries is important if we are to live in a true democracy.
