{"id":274506,"date":"2023-08-19T16:35:34","date_gmt":"2023-08-19T14:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=274506"},"modified":"2023-08-19T16:35:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T14:35:37","slug":"what-has-happened-to-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=274506","title":{"rendered":"What Has Happened to the\u00a0Guardian?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Climate Scepticism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0JOHN RIDGWAY<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And is it still fit for purpose?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Thomas Jefferson<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What is the purpose of journalism?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cynic might answer that it is to sell newspapers, but in their book,\u00a0The Elements of Journalism<\/a>,\u00a0Bill Kovach<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Tom Rosenstiel<\/a>\u00a0offer a better answer. Journalism, they say, \u201cis not defined by technology, nor by journalists or the techniques they employ.<\/em>\u201d Rather, \u201cthe principles and purpose of journalism are defined by something more basic: the function news plays in the lives of people.<\/em>\u201d The bottom line is that journalism exists to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions. And, as with all aspects of decision-making, the veracity, impartiality and pertinence of the information provided is critical to the quality of the decisions made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure that back in 1821, when the current-day Guardian first appeared in the guise of The Manchester Guardian, its founding fathers had such high ideals in mind. The clue is in the name, since \u2018Guardian\u2019 suggests a benevolent intent. And nobody could deny it is a newspaper that has established for itself a strong ideological image. Indeed, the term \u2018Guardian reader\u2019 has become synonymous with the stereotype of the liberal, left-wing and politically correct middle-class. The Guardian exists to inform opinion, but does so from a very particular ideological standpoint. And there is nothing wrong with that, provided that the imperatives of veracity, impartiality and pertinence are met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To expand upon this point, it is useful for me to first list the elements of journalism that were identified by Kovach and Rosenstiel:<\/p>\n\n\n\n