Thoughts on Storytelling and Journalism in Local Public Television

"Lots of 'storytelling' and little journalism."

The closing line of this article by GoLocalProv about Rhode Island's journalism crisis shows insight that resonates with me. It's what separates what Rhode Island PBS does and what some would like to convince us it does.

On staff at WSBE Rhode Island PBS are masterful storytellers. But few of them would call themselves journalists. In fact, one of the last events I attended before leaving the station was an off-site meeting that explored "who" the station is and "what" they do. I got the sense the exercise was to convince producers and editors - and me, I guess - to stretch the definition of journalism to cover what we did every day.

Nope. They - we all - apply journalistic standards to our work, but except for a limited few on staff (whose names you would recognize as award-winning journalists), what we do is not journalism; it is exquisite, creative, moving, meaningful, and informative storytelling. It is some of the best content worth watching on television! And I was always so proud of the creators - and my own work.

However, even research and fact-checking, interviewing, and a coherent story line that introduces, peaks, and concludes - qualities shared by good journalism - cannot redefine "journalism" enough to apply to the current day-to-day work at the station.

None of that is to imply WSBE can't produce pure journalistic content. But that's where they head, not where they start.

In its own right, good storytelling is so important! It's how we effectively preserve and share with each other our history and culture, dreams and aspirations - and bequeath that rich legacy to the next generation.

Journalism, while different from storytelling, is an essential service to our community, to our civilization; the professionals who properly practice the art and science of journalism cannot be lost to profit. The loss of The Providence Journal is heartbreaking.

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In a parallel issue, how tired are you of the burgeoning arrogance of people changing established definitions of words to obscure common understanding? There's a lot of that nonsense going on lately. If we continue to allow destruction of our common understanding of words and language, we destroy our civilization. Welcome to the Tower of Babel.

#journalism #storytelling #differentiationmatters