The sole aim of media is to make as much money as they can. Or again, the media are to serve only the people in power, political or economic. If you agree to that, you might as well stop reading this. This issue of Pacific Journalism Review is predicated on the principle that media should serve the public. Journalists can only achieve that if they enjoy independence from financial and political pressures. It is not often enough underlined that they cannot enjoy that independence without the support of the public, the masses of voters and consumers. There is no way the profession can obtain public support unless it listens to readers/listeners/viewers— unless it is accountable to them.
Democracy is impossible if citizens are not well informed, and today's media are mediocre. Freedom and the search for truth are insufficient; quality, based on technique and on an ethical approach, is a prime requisite for serving the public well. In the near future, the media will be radically transformed: newspapers will be replaced by the telemedia; there will be less confusion between information and entertainment; "pseudo-events" will no longer be published; pressures and taboos will be abandoned; the concept of information will be broader; news will be of higher quality, based on reality rather than on appearances, more interesting and intelligible. Information will be at the service of science, foster the public debate, favor reform and be more respecfull of ethical codes. This will be achieved by internal and external quality-control mechanisms based on critique, observation and public access. In this process the university community has a vital role to play.
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