Approximately 25 years ago the journalism academic, Michael Meadows wrote that "... journalism should be seen as part of a broader process of making culture or imagining..."
This was an amazing vision. It may have not have come true, but people should push for a world, where such Utopian standards are part of our every-day life.
Mr Meadows went on to say that "if journalism is viewed as a cultural practice, it enables us to think about how it might be reformed, so that it again may be both of and for the public."
Strong words indeed, but I do not think this should refer to media alone, but also, the wider sphere, outside of the world of news.
Mr Meadows thought that news hounds could be considered "influential intellectuals, who are in a position to exert moral and cultural leadership."
That's a startling opinion, given the correlation of forces, which have pushed us in a different direction.
Mr Meadows believed that journalism could be seen as a set of cultural practices - as a key cultural resource.
I love all these words, but it is very clear that everyone has ignored such wisdom - in favour of the insane push for more wealth for a very small grouping of people.
The beauty that we can see in a ferry ride across the harbour, the wonderful poetry the western world produced throughout the last 200 years and the incredible music from the past 100 years - all gone, with the corporate juggernaut in control.
If we want to borrow from Professor Meadows, we need to consider if there is a process of making culture and imagining, we need to identify what it is and how to expound its virtues into the mind of the everyday person.
If we cannot or will not do this in the current context, then we need to ask about if there is any point to life at all. Should we sit in front of our televisions, watching a stupid soap opera or the rugby league players getting sent off for fighting?
The great Brian Tracy once said that life was about finding meaning and purpose in our lives.
Other motivators have said life is about having pride in ourselves.
A quarter of a way through a new century, we seem to have lost the plot, as none of these things are on our radar anymore. I'm horrified ― Joseph Walz
Quotes from the following essays by Michael Meadows:
Journalism as a Cultural Resource
and a return to practice - reclaiming journalism as a public conversation
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