The Big Picture –
By Glynn Wilson –
There comes a time when you have to put a stop to the Doomscrolling of Daily Apocalypse headlines, sit back and think, and consider the big picture.
Otherwise, you might be accused of “not seeing the forest for the trees.”
In the parlance of original American journalism in the 20th century, weekly or even monthly magazines (and even weekly or special series shows on television) played this role.
In other words, while the mass circulation daily press cranked out the daily breaking news headline stories, some writers and editors were charged with making more sense of it all in magazines like Time and Newsweek and even the monthly Life magazine back when. There was also Atlantic Monthly (now daily online) and Harper’s magazine, which was even more tailored to a more educated, intellectual audience. In other words, not the mass rabble reading on a fifth grade level.
This has become a real challenge on the web, trying to find a balance of daily news to keep regular readers coming back, and more long-view faire for the upper level audience.
As a daily newspaper with its own weekly magazine and hefty Sunday edition, and now with its amazing website, The New York Times has long played an important role bridging this divide and catering to a wide audience. An audience, by the way, which includes pretty much anybody and everybody on the radio and on television in broadcast journalism.
Not much of what you listen to and watch on the tube would be there without print journalists covering the stories and writing summaries that can be turned into broadcast scripts.
Since hightailing it out of Washington, D.C. and making my way across the country a year ago in September, I’ve taken long breaks away from covering daily news, relying primarily on the Times for daily headlines to share with friends, fans and followers on Facebook.
As I took the time to develop a new kind of radio station studio and web interface from scratch over the past year, I’ve basically been retired from daily news and covering national politics, enjoying the fine California climate and sunny weather we’ve all heard so much about.
A few weeks ago, however, after we opened a new arts and crafts center here which has taken up much of my time this summer, I got sucked back in precisely because of the apocalyptic nature of the stories.
But I hit the wall again last week, and had to take a pause and go for a camping break in Yosemite.
This allowed me time to think and then write to put into perspective our work here over the past year. Below is the result.
Not only is this seeing the forest for the trees. It is seeing the trees and the forest where the entire story began.
Now it is becoming more clear what the mission is here.
Yosemite is like the Garden of Eden for the idea that protecting natural beauty, plant and animal species is not just about learning how to observe nature, write a little story or paint a pretty picture. It is about learning how to preserve life itself, human life, and the cultural civilization of communities, states and countries on planet Earth.
And behind it all should be a realization that art and journalism can work together to preserve and perpetuate the ideals of American democracy.
Teaching journalism taught me that it is not just about the mechanical skills of reporting and writing news stories, just as teaching art is not just about showing students the basics of painting a picture. Isn’t teaching also about learning how to become a better and more ethical human being? And how to succeed in writing, art and life?
Otherwise a picture of a tree or a forest can hang in a museum, and a few surviving animals can exist for public viewing in a zoo. Yeah, you can do a video on YouTube, Facebook and TikTok too. So what?
A media company and an arts and crafts center must strive for more. Not just be a place to make a little money. But places to feed the mind and soul and remind us all of why we are here in the first place.
Different kinds of people may have a diversity of views on what it all means. Don’t they need a place to go where these ideas can be explored?
Is that not the goal of great art galleries in Europe, New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco? Why should we be any different?
Think about it.
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Comments
One response
Most interesting and has everything to do with perspective. Many dare not compare ourselves, or want to learn from, more established institutions and people, why not? We don’t have to judge ourselves or be intimidated by the standards of others. All have value -depending upon perspective- as the proverb states: “EVERYONE who comes here brings JOY: some by arriving, others by leaving.”