Red carpet, real talk: NJ Hall media honorees see journalism at crossroads

The red-carpet scene at the N.J. Hall of Fame induction ceremony Friday night was
quite impressive: At least a half-dozen traditional camera crews on tripods and a dozen
other reporters using phones, recorders and good old-fashioned pens and paper to
record key thoughts.

If only the media industry of today were always this vibrant.

The scene stood out in a world some say is contracting — and others insist is
transforming.

This much is clear: The profession is dramatically different than the one the two media
honorees — former NJ Network anchor Mary Alice Williams and current CNN host Dana
Bash — started their careers in decades ago.

Williams sounded a clear alarm.

“These are very dangerous times in the country,” she told BINJE. “The First Amendment
has been punctured in so many different places and without freedom of the press, which
guarantees every other freedom that the United States constitution provides for its
citizens, we are cooked.”

Williams noted recent cuts to public broadcasting, including the looming closure of NJ
PBS. She said the trend is not encouraging.

“It’s a tough time, and it’s a scary time for our craft,” she said. “I worry about the lack of funding to PBS and NJ PBS notably, and I’m hoping that that will somehow even out in the next year.”

Bash was more optimistic.

“I don’t see a collapse of journalism, I see a huge shift,” she told BINJE. “I see big
economic challenges, but in terms of the core mission, I actually feel better about that
now in my career, 30 years in, than I did at the beginning.

“I feel like we’re far more clear-eyed about what we’re supposed to be doing.”

Bash said the industry needs to adjust.

“The landscape has changed,” she said. “People aren’t buying newspapers; they’re
going online. People aren’t watching cable TV; they’re streaming. We’re in a
realignment, but I feel good about it.”

Both offered advice for the next generation of journalists.

“There are more options — so take advantage of that,” Bash said. “Local papers aren’t
what they once were, but there are other options, like newsletters, so find a place that
fits the kind of journalism that you want to do and just go do it and learn by doing.”

Williams stressed the need to stay true to the profession.

“Learn the true nature of the business,” she said. “It is not opinion; it is not conjecture. It
is a search for plain old, provable facts: What’s the policy? How does it affect people?

“You don’t have to take a side. And you shouldn’t.”