Howard Owens on the roles of modern journalism

Howard Owens always offers good insight. It wouldn’t be a stretch to call him the Journalism Listmaster (2008 objectives for today’s non-wired journalist).

Here is his latest list, on the Six roles, or job duties, of modern journalism:

• The Ethical Role
• The Guide/Filter Role
• The Understanding and Context Role
• The Conversation Leader Role
• The Aggregator Role
• The Straight News Role

I particularly like the following, which hits on the potential value of having a greater number of reporters and editors blogging:

“I know many really, really smart reporters and editors. These people should have blogs, and they should serve readers better by taking the news of the day and putting it in context, combing articles for the tidbits that need to be weaved together to make a bigger whole, and explaining what it all means.”