Blame It on the Media

Meagan Dixon
md341410@ohio.edu
www.meagandixon.com

The 21st century has an entirely different view on journalism, and it's not a good one. Today we blame almost everything on the media, from eating disorders to mental health disorders. Journalists get blamed for relaying false information on the daily while society loses their trust in reporters one-by-one. It's as if the truth doesn't exist anymore, or at least no one believes it does. How ironic.

Are there honest journalists out there?

This is a tough question these days. As if people don't already have trust issues from parents abandoning them or their high school sweetheart breaking up with them, now we have to worry about whether or not we can trust the people who are supposed to tell our stories of heartbreak to the world.

The thing is, there are honest journalists out there. Reporters, too. Especially Scripps kids (OU, oh yeah)! Sure, the media has gotten a little out of control lately, with Snooki running around half-naked and Miley Cyrus twerking it at the VMAs. The plus side to this is that journalists from the 21st century know that there have been trust issues, and they are here to give journalists a new name.

http://wsfcsintouch.blogspot.com/2011/05/what-does-21st-century-learner-look.html

Ethical to you may be unethical to me.

Ethics in journalism is a big deal now because our generation is the generation of change. We are gaining rights for people, we are creative and we are bold. While some are about tradition here and there, we mostly want to create our own traditions, like supporting gay marriage or having a say on abortion laws. The 21st century is all about the unspoken. Therefore, we seem unethical. We seem like we don't respect people's views because we are willing to talk about the tough subjects.

As mentioned in the article here, ethics focuses on what is possible. Some confuse ethics with law; law is focused on what society allows.

To some, ethics have nothing to do with it. Some people don't believe in morals, they just don't want to be lied to. They are right to feel this way. Journalists are the people with the backstage passes to everything. It's wrong to lie to the public, which is why ethics in journalism has become a prominent subject. The public has been lied to one too many times, and they are disrespecting journalists because of it. It is going to take a generation of journalists to recreate their image to the public.

Journalism is a craft by ability and a trade by content.

Some believe that journalism is a craft, something you do for fun in your spare time. I would have to disagree. Even though most writers are people who were born with this sixth sense for writing, others see the art in writing and believe in its purpose.

Journalism is everything to do with communication. It is reporting, writing, story-telling, ethics, creativity, event planning and so much more.

For those that say journalists are unethical and have no sense of right from wrong, I would tell them to look here. Most journalists of the 21st century abide by this, so get ready for a new wave of journalism.