"A journalists 'actual responsibility' "

In procrastinating the hours of work and baking I have ahead of me, I started poking around the New York Times Web site. Something I do when I would rather not do anything. I'll usually type a random phrase into the search engine and see what comes up. I'll read until I've had my fill and move on to something much less stimulating.

Today I came across a column, "A Journalists 'Actual Resposibility,' " by Roger Cohen. I wish it were required reading for the masses ... or at least journalism students. Although the entire column and his story of reporting from Iran even after his press pass had been revoked, is inspiring. I suggest you read it. To entice you, here are few of my favorite passages:

"To bear witness means being there — and that’s not free. No search engine gives you the smell of a crime, the tremor in the air, the eyes that smolder, or the cadence of a scream.

No news aggregator tells of the ravaged city exhaling in the dusk, nor summons the defiant cries that rise into the night. No miracle of technology renders the lip-drying taste of fear. No algorithm captures the hush of dignity, nor evokes the adrenalin rush of courage coalescing, nor traces the fresh raw line of a welt."

It's a reminder of how important a journalists work is and how it's more than simply putting words into print -- it's telling the story, depicting scenes and emotions of what is happening in the world.

Another passage that I admire:

"We journalists are supposed to move on. Most of the time, like insatiable voyeurs, we do. But once a decade or so, we get undone, as if in love, and our subject has its revenge, turning the tables and refusing to let us be."

I find this passage interesting, not just for its content, but because it speaks to how I see Anderson Cooper's actions in helping a young Haitian boy who had been hit in the head with a brick of concrete.

What are your thoughts on a journalists "actual responsibility"?

--Taylor