The answer, clearly, is where power is most concentrated, which is in the corporations. Right now, in an age of capitalist triumphalism, journalism has failed miserably at that task. Rather than challenging corporate power, news outlets routinely trumpet the great accomplishments of owners and managers. Claims about the inevitability and universal benefit of markets go uncritiqued. Articulate opponents of so-called free trade are treated as cranks.
Journalists have a moral choice to subordinate themselves to corporate power or to challenge it.
But journalism is not yet so locked down that good work can t be done. It takes creativity, ingenuity and courage. The rewards rarely come in terms of money or career advancement. But neither does one have to wait for the afterlife for the reward of knowing that in the struggle of haves and have-nots, one made the right choice. Robert Jensen, a former newspaper reporter and editor, is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin.