dictionary day two: noblesse

noblesse n the class of nobles (esp of a foreign country). noblesse oblige: privilege entails responsibility.

bear with me on this one...

i've worked in newspapers since i graduated, after being involved in student newspapers and doing a journalism postgrad (of the practical kind, not the meeja studies kind). since i started i've been made painfully aware - often by friends - that my chosen sector is frankly disgusting and i should be ashamed of how i earn my rent. (often the people that say these things buy newspapers...) funnily enough, i don't agree.

for starters, your local paper probably isn't grubby and underhand and digging around in dustbins to find stories. the tabloids and their phoney sheikhs do sometimes find a story that is worth the grubbiness of digging, and think of the telegraph on mps' expenses - it's maybe not the sunday times' investigation of thalidomide, or woodward and bernstein, but it's definitely in the public interest, not just something the public is interested in. those of you in scotland may be aware the sunday herald is carrying on the tradition (and note that w&b and the st were heralded after the event, but hounded during the digging part). information is studied, questions are asked and the answers reported to readers. sometimes things change - sometimes politicians resign.

for second, you might slag off journalists but i bet you all check out the news in some form or other - do you really think newspaper people are so much worse than tv news people? that blogs and newsgroups are utterly scrupulous in checking facts and are aware of legal restrictions? and for third, i bet there are plenty of times you read a paper and think 'i didn't know that'/'that's interesting'/'blimey, so that's what it's all about'.

fact: the sun sells about three million copies per day. one of my journalism tutors used to say that if you want to know what the country is talking about, look at the front page of the sun - you don't have to like it but you can't deny it has power: 'gotcha!'/'will the last person to leave britain please turn off the lights'/'freddie starr ate my hamster'/'it's the sun wot won it' and the fabulous back pager 'super caley go ballistic, celtic are atrocious'.

so in a roundabout way that's me trying to say that newspapers have power. and also that newspapers have a responsibility to their readers to inform and entertain too. with great power comes great reposnsibility, said peter parker's uncle ben (or not). to that end, i bring you the top chaps at my saturday job on one of scotland's respected-but-small-selling national papers doing their weekly balancing act: (from left) editor, news editor and foreign editor - with the help of production chief and the lawyer - make sure we are entertained, informed and enlightened all in one package.

we're not all grubby guttersnipes, some - most - of us are responsible people well aware of the power of their product. it might not be seen as noble, but plenty of us are all over the noblesse oblige part...