Tuesday, September 3, 2013

What is Journalism Today?

Katie Cameron
kc313010@ohio.edu

Following Codes of Ethics 

Today's journalists are more dedicated to professional ethics than any journalists have been in the past. However, with our fast-paced, technology-based society; journalists are struggling to beat the competitors. With heightened competition and increased pressure to cut ethical corners, "good journalism" could essentially disappear. 


What could be causing this?
Money issues: As news outlets expand, many news companies are cutting staff and budget and investing in online marketing materials. With fewer employed journalists, vast amounts of important newsworthy stories and less time to create a good story, the news world is losing credibility.

Political outlooks: A new trend called media bashing has recently surfaced as an outlet for political figures, talk shows, books and blogs to bash “mainstream media” without too much of a consequence.  Most of the public eye is centered around what is happening in the media and today’s world, so media bashing affects what people think about the media as well as the issue at hand. 

More and More People are Turning Away
The majority of the public does not necessarily trust the “mainstream media” anymore because of past journalists posting incorrect information, biased information, etc. As stated earlier, there is heightened competition and increased pressures to cut ethical corners. With this in mind, journalists need to discover their own personal code of ethics and stick to it regardless of the issue at hand to ensure credible media outlets.

So…
How does a journalist design their ethical philosophy? Is it easy to create a list of ethical rules to follow in uncomfortable situations?  

A main factor in designing a code of ethics is your background. You might have something you strongly believe in or do not believe in because of your religion or the way you were socialized. When you are more concerned with yourself and what will better you than your way of thinking it is called ethical egoism. This ideally is not the best way to think in a journalistic society because the definition of ethical reasoning is being concerned with self-in-society and not just self.

A great way to create a code of ethics after establishing if you are an ethical egoism thinker or an ethical reasoning thinker is to read The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) code of ethics. Although these codes changes every once in a while, it is a great list to follow and adopt. 




Is Journalism a profession or a craft?

Journalism, like law and medicine, has important public services roles and a set of ethics to follow. However, journalism does not require any special training or certification process like law and medicine do. Also, there is no governing body to prevent any mishaps from happening, although journalists have their own code of ethics. There is no real way to prevent false information or biased information from entering the public's eye except for the journalist personal code of ethics.

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