Those who can, govern. Those who can’t, become political journalists.
I just pray the rest of my colleagues don’t just start following the herd.

I won’t deny it, I’d much rather be working in a Congressman’s office on Capitol Hill right now than sitting in a cubicle in Detroit thinking of ways to un-stodgify our Web site. That said, our job here as journalists (aw, who am I kidding? I’m not a journalist, I just make Web sites.) Anyway, our job here as journalists isn’t to be experts on the subjects we cover, it’s to talk to the experts in an effort to convey a story. If Brent Snavely were an expert in the music industry, he’d be in L.A. making millions, not sitting in Detroit making $60k to talk to local studio owners. It’s a fine line we walk between covering an event and being part of it ourselves, but it’s one we have to be clear about.

A great many in my profession are are wanna-bes. From the sports writers waxing sentimental in the press box about their glory days on the high school gridiron to the political pundits screaming on the morning shows about how they could create policy some much better than our elected leaders. Many journalists got into this business out of a pure love for journalism, but so many of us do it just to get closer to the people we want to be like. People don’t go into journalism because they enjoy a life of anonymity. We all want to be rock stars, politicians or famous athletes, yet our God-given talent is one for words (and often times, typing fast.) If given the opportunity, the “call-up” as it were, to go from the life of an observer to one as a participant, most of us would jump at the chance. I’m no different, a big perk of being a student-journalist was getting into concerts for free. Add that to the fact that you sometimes run into famous people and that sometimes people on the street recognize you (for better or worse,) and I was hooked. Once in, I developed a real love for journalism, but I’d be lying if I said I had some Woodward and Bernstein-esque aspirations as an 18-year-old freshman covering men’s soccer at EMU.

With that in mind, let’s get back to the government. Let me just say that I think it’s a smart policy on the part of the government to include the experts in any number of fields when making policy decisions. If you’re going to give a speech signaling a policy shift with regards to the middle east, for example, I think it’s a great idea to bring in college professors who study this region, former high-ranking ex-patriots whose former countries will be affected, etc. I do not think, however, that it is a smart idea to bring in journalists or pundits in an attempt to gauge how well your policy shifts are going to play, especially if it is done under the pretense that said journalists think they’re helping or advising in some other way.

All right, so now that you’ve suffered through my rant, I suppose it’s only proper that I let you know exactly what it is that has me so riled up. This article from The Washington Post says that some leading journalists, including Bill Krystol (editor of the Weekly Standard) and Columnist Charles Krauthammer of The Washington Post both said they consulted with members of the Bush administration on themes for the coming administration and on ideas for last week’s inaugural address. Both insist they didn’t cross the line, but this is an issue that gets more contentious each day as journalist after journalist, from print and broadcast, admit to taking money from the administration to promote government programs, including No Child Left Behind and the federal Marriage Protection Act. Scandals like that of Jayson Blair, the former New York Times reporter who was found to be simply making up stories, damaged our reputation as the fourth estate enough in recent years, the last thing we need is to be seen as the the lackeys to the government’s Scott Farkas.

In what would seem to be a reaction to recent events that have shed a negative light on journalists, this story scares the living daylights out of me. It seems that one in three high school students think that press freedoms in America go too far. Thirty-six percent of high school students think the press should get government approval before publishing stories. We already live with an administration that seems intent on limiting the voice of the media, either by shutting them down or by co-opting them and making them puppets. If that trend continues with the next administration, by the time this generation is in power, the media could be in some real trouble.

Fortunately, I think maturity and education will temper some of those attitudes towards the media. In addition, people like these kids will fight the good fight to keep the media in this country truly free.