Journalism: A profession of struggle

Many professions and scientific disciplines have a dictionary definition, an academic definition, and a political and social definition based on the meaning attributed to them. For example, the famous French sociologist and thinker Pierre Bourdieu, when he said, "Sociology is a combat sport," drew attention to the fact that sociology must be critical. 

Journalism is the same, and it should be so. A journalist should not be content with merely informing, raising awareness, and shaping public opinion. They must view the profession as a tool for struggle. By its very nature, it must be critical. 

JOURNALISM AND POLITICS

This approach and understanding of journalism is undoubtedly political and ideological. In this respect, it is an approach that expects the journalist, as an intellectual, to be courageous, oppositional, and critical, and argues that they should be so. 

So, what should an intellectual be like?

The world-renowned thinker Jean-Paul Sartre defines the intellectual as a lonely person who gets involved in matters that are not their business, who is responsible, and who takes a stand on the side of the oppressed. According to our Republic's martyr, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, an intellectual is someone who considers themselves responsible for society and seeks the truth. The following lines from the work "Representations of the Intellectual" by the famous Palestinian-American professor of comparative literature and thinker Edward Said, who made a great impact with his book "Orientalism," summarize the moral, conscientious, political, and philosophical stance of an ideal journalist, an intellectual trying to do their job properly:  

"There is something about intellectuals who have no positions to protect, no land to guard, that bothers some people; they are not without vanity, but they often make fun of themselves, for example, and speak plainly rather than beating around the bush. But there is no escaping this truth: 'Intellectuals who see themselves this way have neither friends in high places nor prestige in official circles. One is lonely, it is true; but loneliness is always better than following the herd and tolerating the status quo.'"

It is possible to say this: First and foremost, a journalist is expected to be a good intellectual, an independent and unaffiliated intellectual. The fundamental condition of being a good journalist is, without a doubt, to be politically grumpy and restless, and to remain constantly oppositional. 

Because journalism is not done to make a living, to earn money, or to sustain one's life. Journalism is not the sum of jobs, actions, services, activities, efforts, or tasks performed to feed oneself, pay rent, take care of one's children, or own a house, car, or summer home. It is something else. It is very different from these and much more than these. 

CONTACT AND DISTANCE IN JOURNALISM

A journalist reflects their concerns, expectations, priorities, and goals regarding society and politics in their news and commentaries. In this respect, the journalist's relationship with their boss is also different from the relationship an employee in another sector has with their boss. It should be noted that a newspaper owner or a media mogul is not just any boss, entrepreneur, employer, capitalist, or businessperson in any sector. Their situation is also different. 

A journalist must maintain distance from all kinds of power centers. Because journalism cannot be practiced without a very good understanding of the essence, requirements, and purpose of the distance that must be maintained and the struggle that must be waged against power centers. 

Journalism is, by its nature and definition, a political profession. It is social and critical. A journalist must be oppositional. Because in order to draw the boundaries of their relationship with news sources, it is essential to "maintain contact and distance." This is one of the fundamental principles of journalism. 

A journalist is also someone who must write good news and speak well, both in terms of education, knowledge, background, equipment, and experience, and in terms of command of language and vocabulary, because they must first and foremost ask the right question. Effective communication skills and the ability to express oneself powerfully and confidently are very important in journalism.  

In developed societies, industrialized countries, and states where class relations and class contradictions, as well as production-ownership-distribution relations, are advanced in the capitalist sense, discussions regarding the sector structure of the media, monopolization in the media, and, as it is more commonly defined in recent years, concentration in the media sector are constantly on the agenda. Likewise, discussions regarding the boundaries, responsibilities, function, and importance of the journalism profession, and the professional status of journalists, are always at the forefront. Moreover, these discussions are not only on the agenda of journalists, journalism professional organizations, and communication faculties. They are also on the agenda of politics, bureaucracy, the business world, law, unions, professional chambers, democratic mass organizations, advertising and public relations agencies, intelligence agencies, and illegal organizations, for various reasons. This is natural. It is inevitable. 

Because a journalist, with the news they write, the concepts they use, the commentaries they make, and the information and documents they share with the public, takes a political and social position far beyond doing a job, practicing a profession, or providing a professional service. They make an ideological choice. Due to the intense work of journalists with important people and institutions in economic, political, and social life, they are required to maintain contact and distance. Moreover, this requirement is not just an ethical requirement in its professional dimension; it is a requirement that also has political dimensions. 

Journalism is a political profession and is directly related to politics. Whether they are an economy reporter, a parliamentary reporter, a police-courthouse reporter, a sports reporter, a diplomacy reporter, a labor-union reporter, an education reporter, or a health reporter, it makes no difference; a journalist must be critical, observe contact and distance, and defend the public interest. 

It must be emphasized that there is a close, direct, and intense relationship between the development of capitalism and the development of the media sector. For this reason, there is a high expectation that a journalist, as a person who asks, questions, criticizes, audits, reports, and produces content on behalf of the public, should consider the common good, public interest, and social benefit by the very definition of the profession. This high expectation is constantly on the agenda due to the dimensions reached by the power of the media within the network of capitalist relations, the structure of the sector, and its relations with the state apparatus and big capital. Journalists are also criticized more, stand out more, and become the subject of discussion more frequently with the news they do and do not do, what they write and do not write, what they talk about and do not talk about, and what they share and do not share with the public. 

JOURNALISM AND SOCIALISM

In this respect, the expectation that a good journalist should first be a good person, an idealist on a moral and philosophical level, and a populist, socialist, and public-minded person on an ideological level is rising even further. When the dimensions reached by capitalism and the capital structure of the actors in the media, as well as which sectors they operate in outside the media, are examined, the extent to which this high expectation is realistic and the extent to which those who fall for this expectation experience disappointment are constantly debated. 

If journalism breaks away from its critical, oppositional, and combative character, which is in its professional, moral, and political essence, and is reduced to an activity of producing content that makes ordinary news and commentaries about developments and events in daily life, it becomes faint. It loses its value and becomes dysfunctional. It loses its respectability and effectiveness. Because journalism is not an ordinary activity that tells society what is happening in life, or a text-writing job that explains what is happening to the public in neat sentences. Journalism is much more than reporting on everything that comes to mind, from femicides to traffic accidents, from corruption to public tenders, from forest fires to water cuts, from the activities of terrorist organizations to arms trafficking, and from the financing of politics to historical artifact smuggling. 

For the media, which is defined as the fourth estate, to fulfill this duty properly, it must be constantly alert, vigilant, and watchful. Only and only if it is so can it weigh in on the side of labor, equality, democracy, independence, human rights, freedom, justice, transparency, and accountability. It can be effective in defending ethical values, the common good, and public interest. 

For this reason, it is necessary to remind that the following saying, which journalists know very well and use frequently, contains a very accurate definition of good journalism: "A journalist should have a bruise on their face, not lipstick marks." 

In short, journalism is a profession of struggle.