Dear Readers,
Welcome to The Independent! Today, in our inaugural article (for this new website), we would like to outline our background and philosophies. So, let’s get started!
First, what is The Independent? The Independent is a newspaper founded in 1989 by high school students. At the time, the newspaper sought to present the state of the school and surrounding community (affectionately known as “The Cathedral Close”) honestly, rather than a censored, school-approved depiction. The school, St. Albans School, refused to sanction such a club and thus, did not provide any funding or school-support. The students, determined to found the paper, raised money through advertisements and donations to eventually print the first issue in the spring of 1989. The Independent continued to print papers for the next twenty-four years. In 2015 (and continuing into early 2016), it was hit by financial difficulty, and could not publish an issue. However, a change of leadership and new financial backing has allowed The Independent to launch this website. The Independent continues to be run and funded by students from St. Albans School, and its sister-school, National Cathedral School.
Despite our new look, we, the editorial staff of The Independent, are committed to high-quality, objective, and analytical writing on all topics. As a community, we live in an era of partisan journalism that not only lacks concrete facts but also lacks complex analysis. This “yellow journalism,” or news designed to sell rather than report, dominates today’s television, magazines, and websites; the articles (and broadcasts) are poorly-researched and biased which together have led to a dramatic drop in the public’s confidence in the media. In 1956, 66% of Americans viewed newspapers as fair, with only 27% considering them unfair; in 1976, CBS anchor Walter Cronkite was “the most trusted man in America” with 72% of Americans considering him trustworthy. Today, the trust in the media is about 40%, and only 27% of Americans consider journalists honest. The lack of quality journalism is shocking, but what is quality journalism?
This question (“What is quality journalism?”) is a hotly-debated topic with three complex answers. First, the short answer: “Quality journalism is something a democracy cannot do without.” (Vekhoo, 1). This response, while a very accurate statement, fails to guide our approach. Thus, we move to the medium length answer. But before that, a brief disclaimer. Deciding whether or not a piece of journalism is quality is difficult. The Pulitzer prize, the premier award for journalistic excellence, does not have specific criteria to rate its pieces. However, studies and surveys from the last fifty years can give us a sense of what quality journalism entails.
Now, the medium-length answer which consists of a lot of people’s perspectives on journalism. First, John C. Merril, in his book The Elite Press. Great Newspapers of the World (1968), claims “[that] quality press is a free, courageous, reliable, independent, news-views-oriented journal that is responsible to its readers. (Vekhoo, 6) Next, Robert G. Picard claims that quality journalism is the sole result of thorough, and high quality research (or “activity.”) Third, circulation does not correlate with quality journalism. As Alex Jones said “the unhappy truth is that newspapers that sought to retain readers by investing in their newsrooms have not been able to show that this strategy pays off with a surge in circulation. The argument that quality will keep readers is not one that can easily be demonstrated, ” which is a long-winded way of saying that the most popular newspaper is not necessarily the best quality newspaper. (Vekhoo, 11) On the other hand, Philip Myer argues that “quality [journalism] produces business success which enables more quality [journalism].” (Myer, 78) Michael Schudson has different ideas about journalistic excellence and says that quality journalism serves to “provide fair and full information, investigate concentrated sources of power, analyze, help people appreciate the lives and viewpoints of other people, provide a forum for dialogue among citizens, and serve as advocates for political programs and perspectives.” (Vekhoo, 20) So, in summary, quality journalism is independent in all respects, thoroughly researched, investigative, and analytical.These definitions of quality journalism are not, as much as they appear to be, isolated definitions. A newspaper can, and should, have thoroughly researched articles and foster a discussion among its citizens, all while promoting a certain program. For the long answer, please feel free to look at Johanna Vehkoo’s remarkable paper “What is Quality Journalism and How It Can be Saved” which we have linked at the bottom.
Here at The Independent, we are committed to you, our readers. Thus, out of respect for you, we aim to satisfy every definition of quality journalism. We aim to not only inform our readers, but also to foster discussion among them; we aim to simplify complex issues into “bite-sized pieces” that are easy enough to understand, but retain all the necessary details; we aim to investigate our stories fully, and explore everything there is to explore when researching. To fulfill this mantra, we will be transparent. On every article, we will cite our sources, which will allow readers to check our facts. For every partisan article, we will argue both sides equally. We will research our articles thoroughly, and still publish articles daily. Additionally, we will publish the highlights of the website in a quarterly newspaper. We hope to transition smoothly to the new platform, while remaining true to our more traditional roots as a newspaper.
If you have any suggestions, comments, or concerns please contact us. We want this platform to be a success, and all feedback is much appreciated. If you would like to support The Independent’s revival, please donate to our PayPal account or send a check to St. Albans School. Thank you for reading The Independent, and enjoy your day!
Sincerely,
Nathan Nangia Scotty Lefkowitz Kira Medish
Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief
Citations:
Farhi, Paul. "Why Everyone (it Seems) Hates the News Media." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 10 Nov. 2015. Web. 13 Sept. 2016.
Ladd, Jonathan McDonald. Why Americans Hate the News Media and How It Matters. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2011. Georgetown University. Georgetown University. Web. 1 Sept. 2016. <http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jml89/MediaBook.pdf>.
Vekhoo, Johanna. WHAT IS QUALITY JOURNALISM Reuters Institute Fellowship Paper (2010): n. pag. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. University of Oxford. Web. 31 Aug. 2016. <https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/What%20is%20Quality%20Journalism%20and%20how%20can%20it%20be%20saved'.pdf>.