Bill Kovach: Journalist for democracy

Bambang M, Contributor, Yogyakarta

For seasoned journalist Bill Kovach -- dubbed as "the conscience of U.S. journalism" -- journalism is not only a profession, it's a sacred mission.

"I want to help the majority of people that cannot voice their own interests," he said. That's why, perhaps, he has persistently held on to the correct principles of journalism.

As he was growing up, Kovach, now 72, witnessed the injustices that the people around him, such as the African-Americans and immigrants like his own family, were subjected to. He is convinced that these injustices will disappear if journalists expose them in their news reports.

Kovach, who now resides in Chevy Chase, the United States, was born to Albanian immigrant parents.

The veteran journalist recently became the center of attention in discussions held by newspeople in a number of Indonesian cities.

With colleague Tom Rosenstiel, he wrote The Element of Journalism: What newspeople should know and the public should expect, in 2001.

To some, this book is considered a holy book for journalists in these modern times where democracy, corruption, human rights, violence, credibility and many other sophisticated terms are often used and practiced in the daily lives of journalists -- surpassing the vintage words like conscience, affection, peace and sense.

Roy Peter Clark of The Poynter Institute has said that this book is "the most important book on journalism and democracy in the past fifty years."

The book has been translated into Indonesia and ten other languages. It also won the Goldsmith Book Prize from Harvard University.

In conjunction with its launching, Pantau magazine, in cooperation with the United States Embassy in Indonesia and the Institute for the Free Flow of Information (ISAI), invited Kovach to come to Indonesia.

The husband of Lynne Stamm, and father of four and grandfather of six, agreed to a long tour covering Medan, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Jakarta and Bali -- where he took time to drop by in local newspaper offices and held discussions with journalists on democracy and the work of journalists.

"Kovach is one of the world's foremost thinkers on journalism today," said Pantau's chief editor Andreas Harsono, who accompanied Kovach during his visit to Indonesia, when giving a few introductory words during a recent discussion in Kedai Kebun, Yogyakarta.

The former Washington bureau chief of the New York Times won the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award for his dedication. To many younger journalists, he has become the role model of a true journalist who persistently upholds his credibility and idealism.

"I've spent most of my life promoting journalism of a better quality and ensuring that democracy will survive and will not buckle under the government's pressure or economic power," Kovach stated.

A founder of the Committee of Concerned Journalists (CCJ), an institution working to promote better U.S. journalism, Kovach is well known for his warmth. He's also the curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

Kovach is of the opinion that the main goal of journalism is to provide information to the public so that they can lead a free life and take care of themselves.

It is at this juncture that journalism assumes great significance to a democratic life, which is built upon the assumption that the public can take care of themselves, not on the notion that they must be taken care of by a centralistic political power.

"Journalism and democracy go hand in hand," said Kovach, who served on the panel of judges for the Pulitzer Prize from 1987 to 1990.

In every discussion he always stresses that in the absence of journalism, public opinion will be stunted and, as a result, the public will fail to take care of themselves.

"The book contains not only normative rules but also provides concrete examples. This is the advantage of the book," said Lukas Ispandrio, a communications lecturer from Atma Jaya University, Yogyakarta.

Back in 1997, 25 noted American journalists gathered at the Harvard Faculty Club, Cambridge. They were concerned about what they saw as the poor quality of news products in their country.

These people then set up the CCJ and agreed to conduct a survey among journalists and the public to find out what journalism was really all about. The result of this survey, which shed light on the universal principles of journalism, led to the writing of The Elements of Journalism by Kovach and Rosenstiel, who had previously jointly written Warp Speed: America in the Age of Mixed Media.

Journalism, according to Kovach, is the most important occupation in the world. In the hands of journalists that are knowledgeable about and respect the interests of the public, journalism can encourage people to become involved in the government affairs of their countries.

"I hope journalists all over the world can unite to save democracy on this planet," said Kovach, who was awarded an honorary doctorate from Colby College.

Kovach strongly adheres to the principles of journalism, giving the example that if any of his children committed a crime, he would himself write about if in the same way that he would write about other people.

"I have told all my children that they may do anything as long as they are ready to read something about it in the newspaper. I believe this is the best regulation of life," said Kovach.