A little over thirty years ago, Antonina Kołoskowska wrote in her Sociology of Culture about contemporary mass media, that they are characterised by populism, the entertainment they offer is saturated with aggression and lacks refinement, and that the democratisation of culture has led to the levelling of all senders and the placing of trashy and authentic art on the same level — in short, vulgarity has prevailed over intellectual content. It is a fact that the journalistic art, since large media conglomerates took control of the mass media, has been in retreat. In addition we find ourselves, it seems, in a state of a peculiar decadence, which commands us — as recipients — to seek ever more drastic stimuli in the media, to satisfy our hunger for information with news of little intellectual value but provoking extreme emotions, even shocks.

I think that reflection on the art of journalism should accompany not only those professionally connected with the media, just as the book This Is Not a Job for Cynics, newly published by Agora — a collection of Ryszard Kapuściński’s lectures — is not intended only for journalists. The lectures contained in the book were delivered by Ryszard Kapuściński in Spain and Italy during journalism workshops he ran. Today for the first time we can read them in full in the Polish language. In them we find the reflections of the author of The Emperor on the secrets of journalism, on the reporter’s work, but above all a very important — especially in the context of the widely discussed crisis of journalism — and quite severe assessment of contemporary media.

Thus according to Kapuściński the character of the journalist’s work has undergone a fundamental change: today the journalist is an anonymous person engaged in generating characterless news items that have nothing in common with articles. On the other hand every journalist is part of an alternative world that replaces the real world and can manipulate public opinion. This kind of diagnosis compels reflection on the consequences of this media revolution — a revolution that, how else, devours its own children. Kapuściński speaks of something that, from the standpoint of the contemporary world, sounds like an anachronism: “The journalist must not look down on those with whom he will work; on the contrary, he must be their equal, he must be one of them, like them, in order to be able to get close to them, understand them, and then express their expectations, their hopes.” Humility, friendship, the awareness that one is dealing with extraordinarily delicate material — a human being — who remembers this today? The class of the journalist, the reporter, even deference towards the person one wishes to write about, and above all respect — these are the ideas Kapuściński considered most essential in his work. He was aware of one very important thing: the reporter appears in a person’s life, and then disappears, leaving behind his text, which may break someone’s life…

The word is the journalist’s working tool and the word deserves respect. The marginalisation of the journalist’s essential work by large media conglomerates, the replacement of ideas by capital, and the transformation of the media into instruments for generating ever greater profits, has resulted in the trivialisation of the value of the word. Ryszard Kapuściński never spoke in complicated language. The simplicity of his message in some way corresponded to the modesty of his person. He did not write about people — he told stories about them, told them as though he were constantly in conversation with them. He had passion, sensitivity, and the gift not only of seeing but of understanding the world; he felt a duty towards his protagonists, he was the voice of those who were so often excluded. Kapuściński’s journalism is a beautiful narrative — a narrative that is today very much lacking, not because of the linguistic richness of his texts, but because of the silence that was his unique relationship between author and reader.

Source: http://podtytulem.blox.pl/2013/06/Reporter-odchodzi-i-nigdy-wiecej-nie-wraca8211.html

source: kapuscinski.info