Citizen Journalism vs. Following the Ethical Code

Haley Dake
hd883312@ohio.edu

At some point in his or her career every journalist has studied the ethical code behind being a great reporter. They've learned what is considered to be right and wrong, and gone over classic cases where someone had made a wrong choice, and how we learned from their error. But as society grows and changes so rapidly the ethics established by Greek philosophers so long ago seem to lose their significance.

Philosophers created ethics to study the good. It was to be an inquiriy of what lies beyond the subjective and emotional analysis of society. It was to be a means to create a solid line between right and wrong, but even then there was no clear line, and we have continued to see such throughout our history.

This blurring of the lines can be seen in our very own government on a daily basis. To function as a successful democracy, citizens must voluntarily follow the laws they themselves have created. It is not uncommon for a law to become outdated and go without update, to the point where we see people blatantly disregarding it. Is it unethical even though its a useless statute? What about the laws discriminating against African Americans, laws that used to strongly shape our society? People fought for years and sacrificed their lives to break those laws, in hope for change and a better life. We don't look back on those strong individuals now and consider them unethical for disregarding a guideline that would now be considered an absurd break in ethics.

If there is no clear line in the roots of our democracy, how could we expect to see one in our sources of media today?

A common criticism of journalists and the media is the overwhelming amount of false information that gets released to the public. Because a society cannot function without a refined system of communication, it lies heavily on our shoulders to be accurate in every aspect of our writing.

But truth is no longer our only demand. Speed, entertainment, video, and interactive outlets are what the audience of 2014 desires. And who better to give them what they want than themselves?

Citizen journalism has become an increasingly large threat to those of us trying to get out accurate and important information as quickly as possible. Anyone is capable of sending a tweet, or taking a video that will go viral faster than a reporter can get to sources and write up a thorough piece. The rate at which we get information will never be up to speed to those who are on the scene. The video speaks briefly on the the death of Neda Agha-Soltan. A case in which a video of her last breaths went viral before the story was even a headline on any website or paper.  Why didn't ethics come into play when that was being shared and posted all over the internet? Because "citizen journalists" are not held to that standard.

It comes down to an acceptance. An acceptance of the fact that what professional journalists do, and what a bystander happens to catch on their phone are not the same. And though speed and access are so important in media today, the complete story is what is most important. Producing a fully developed, clear, and an accurate account of exactly what happened, with credible sources and all the facts, that is what everyone looks for after they've seen the 30 second clip on their newsfeed. That's how we win.