gh181212@ohio.edu
Journalists have lost their street cred.
In a drive to become the first to break news or produce exclusive content, Americans have lost faith in the media's main export: information.
And not just any information; the hard-hitting news that separates speculation from accuracy, in the eyes of the public, has disappeared.
In reality, there is more accurate and ethical reporting than at any time in our nation's history. Every day, journalists around the country provide news and inform the public.
News publications and organizations have taken countless research studies to find what their audience wants to read, and even on what platform.
But in society's eyes, journalists have lost respect for silly, unethical stories in an effort to gain readership.
The rise of social media
Every journalist wants to be the first to break the news. In the past, breaking news meant a journalist was on top of their coverage, and one step ahead of its competition. Now, in the time of social media, breaking news can come down into a matter of seconds.
When a story breaks, often times the details are murky and change by the minute. Add social media to the mix and inaccuracies run rampant. The drive to produce content first has a nice correlation with false information not verified by multiple sources.
But the desire to be the first to report any new information gets in the way, and ethically, it's not always the right choice.
Now that anyone can tweet right away, many publications will correct as the story develops, such as the Associated Press did on Twitter this past Friday.
To a member of the public, this tweet could mean two things: 1. The story is developing, or 2. This news agency is just throwing any data out there before confirming it.
While a news agency can say it wanted to deliver news as quickly as possible to its audience, is it morally ethical to do so, knowing that the facts behind a story will develop in time?
Part of that ethical struggle comes from the war of citizen journalists. Once a Twitter or Facebook account is established, anyone can start posting news, sometimes before media outlets, causing a variation the information that is collected.
While this can help spread news, it can also hurt it. What it really comes down to is the ethics of the journalist or the citizen journalist in spreading the information to the public.
Social media has allowed news to spread around the globe with a story happening even on the bricks (or Chase Bank) on Court St.
It is the job of journalists to find the good, reliable sources from the bad. More and more, that is taking place. Members of the media have been commended for the outstanding work covering a story and providing the best content, and have been able to do so ethically.
Social media is a place where some of society thinks there are no rules in place. It's the job of journalists to find the truth, and report accurately. Only then will the public restore faith in media's main export.
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