President's Message
By Alan Capper

December 2007

Jeffrey Scheuer, the author and writer on media and politics was the guest speaker at the Fifth of the FPA’s “First Wednesday” series. Mr. Scheuer’s new book, “The Big Picture – Why Democracies Need Journalistic Excellence” was the subject of his talk to 30 members of the FPA at Samalita’s Restaurant on 87th Street.

In my introduction to Jeffrey Scheuer, I said that I had used one of Mr. Scheuer’s previous books, “The Sound Bite Society” as part of students research reading when I taught media and communications at New York University. I also read a review of “The Big Picture” which said “the collapse of viable journalism is one of the dominant features of our times and, as Jeffrey Scheuer demonstrates in “The Big Picture” it cannot be permitted to continue without dire consequences for our politics and for society. If you are looking for one book to put the matter in context and make the case, this beautifully written book is it.”

Mr. Scheuer spoke for more than half an hour on the content of his book making a strong argument that media standards were deteriorating sharply and needed to be counter-balanced by effective media criticism and increased public participation in media ownership.

He put forward the view that the deterioration in standards began in 1948 in the coverage of the Dewey/Truman election campaign, when a newspaper commenting on Truman’s electioneering stated “the train pulled out with a big jerk.” He also quoted A.J. Liebling who said that journalism is the weak slat under the bed of democracy, but Mr. Scheuer believes that excellence in journalism helps us to become better citizens, particularly when it fulfills an educational role.

The advent of media consolidation under fewer owners was directly responsible for some of the deterioration that we are experiencing, and he expressed concern about the ownership of the Wall Street Journal, falling under the Murdoch umbrella.

With regard to television he believes that the landscape of daytime television was also deeply depressing, and Mr. Scheuer particularly highlighted CNN Daytime as “awful”. The loss of ABC’s Nightline was significant in the delivery of news analysis and it seems we have reached a stage where the market is determining the role of the media.

Mr. Scheuer concluded that we need a mainstream media that includes more non-profit outlets, citing NPR as an example of what can be done in this area.

An extremely lively question and answer session followed with subjects covering why more young people are not taking courses in journalism, the role of celebrity journalism and political influence. Francesca Slovin wanted the session to continue and invited the entire audience back to her townhouse to do just that.

“The Big Picture” by Jeffrey Scheuer is published by Routledge and can be ordered through Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

Alan Capper