CARTOON JOURNALISM

Commentary by Associate Professor Bruce Berman

New Mexico State University

Every day, thousands cross and cross back again.

And, yes, indeed, they stand in the back of that line, over and over and over.

Our discussion of “immigration,” must be written by a cartoon writer.

Ignorance is to be expected. Misinformation because of pushing partisan agendas is to be expected. What has come, unexpectedly is misinformation and ignorance coming from the MSM (Mainstream media). Somewhere in the last 25 years the practitioners of our information channels have come to think their job is to report on press releases issued by those -BOTH SIDES- with their “fingers on the scale.”

In fact their job -not being done at all-  is to A) Find out what is going on, B) Tell us why it’s happening, C) Point to malfeasance, incompetence or ill intention if it’s being done badly and always -ALWAYS- illustrate the issues by giving them a “face,” i.e., our face, the real plotters of our destinies.

I.E., report on the issues not be stenographers for how vested interests issue their talking points.

Has this been lost or has this merely been misplaced?

The current generation of journalism students are the only ones that can answer that question.

They should not look to their professors for the answer, they should look in the mirror and ask themselves, “Am I the last generation that will be able to report freely?” Or, “Am I in this profession because it’s a job or because the job of journalism -the 4th Estate- is to know the truth and to report it? Who will I serve: myself or the people I’m communicating with?”

Their answer will determine whether we-the people-shall be free or, merely, semi free (or worse).

About Author

Bruce Berman

Professor Bruce Berman has been a photographer for many decades and a teacher for a few. He started out in Chicago as a street photographer shooting riots for UPI, AP, The Chicago Tribune and the Christian Science Monitor. Mostly interested in photographing people his photography eventually morphed into the idea of doing documentary photography although at the time he didn’t know there was a name for it.
On an assignment, he got lost in the desert and ended up in El Paso and has lived three blocks from Mexico for over forty years.
He has covered the border, northern Mexico, West Texas and the southern United States ever since.
Now concentrating exclusively on documentary photography -and teaching- he has found himself back at his roots.
Teaching at a university has provided Berman with opportunities to do research and work with a new generation of photographers. He calls them “the next great generation of shooters.”

See author's posts