The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (COCI) is honouring businesses in the communication sector today, Friday. Local pioneers in the radio, television, cinema, newspaper- and book-publishing fields listed will no doubt appreciate the gesture.
Such recognition is not always evident, like when the Government of St. Maarten – as the only one in Dutch kingdom – originally excluded media from its COVID-19 payroll support paid with liquidity loans provided by the Netherlands, based on a United Nations (UN) list. That was quickly corrected and is by now water under the proverbial bridge, but it nonetheless bears mentioning.
While serious members of the press generally don’t look for praise and “blowing one’s own trumpet” is best avoided, occasional acknowledgment can be encouraging in their continued efforts to inform the public. Particularly journalists are privileged to be – in effect – unelected representatives of the people, acting as their “eyes, ears and voice” in the often difficult role of society’s watchdog.
COCI’s initiative offers a nice opportunity to address one widespread misconception saying practically only bad news is reported because that’s what sells. Apart from the fact that both are relative and subjective concepts, certainly The Daily Herald carries a significant amount of so-called good news stories regularly also on the front page.
In reality, “feel-good” articles appear quite popular, judging – among other things – from reactions to posts on this newspaper’s Facebook wall. It’s ultimately up to each person to decide what they look at and read.
Same as anything else, including politics, the media to some extent remain a reflection of the community and market they operate in. However, their primarily goal is or should be to serve the general interest.
