Comfort or Curse?

"News is what someone, somewhere, wants concealed. Everything else is advertising." (Jervis, 1987 as cited by Sheridan Burns in Journalism, 2001, pp. 23)

This may be true to some level but it is an interesting way to start this chapter. Are journos the flames for social justice? To "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable?"Or has it moved away from this and is the media simply entertainment? Or should it be a balance between information and entertainment?

Personally, I draw the most inspiration for journalists and journalism from the anecdote about the writer, the actor and the musician, told at the end of Sheridan Burns' chapter:

• "Perhaps the answer lies in the convergance of their lives rather than the differences. What they had in common, all along, was a desire to engage the world, to touch people."
• "A journalist is someone who believes there are answers, and wants to find them."
• "All journalists seek in some way to touch an audience, to make some sense of what they discover in the world, and share the news."

All this makes sense and really does sound wonderful, but it is really the case? I hope deep down it is what lies at the heart of it all - the passionate fire that burns within.

Any thoughts?