Is Journalism the new Advertising?

Mallory Laird
ml704211@ohio.edu

Deceiving readers is considered unethical for journalists. Tricking readers in order to get clicks and shares is the new type of Journalism. Digital Media Ethics is making it's wave onto the radar of journalists everywhere.

In the article "Stop trolling your readers" it is evident that online journalism is using unethical values to get the word out there. "Trolling" can be defined as "Make a deliberately offensive or provocative online posting with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them"(Google). This is what online journalists nowadays are doing. They want to intrigue readers online to read their articles, and get a response out of them. Unfortunately, this is working for journalists.

If someone is searching the web and they see an article with an intriguing headline, they are almost 99% of the time, going to click on it. They will then skim the article, share it on their social media page, and comment on it. This will hopefully in their favor and the journalists, strike a debate between social media followers.

The strategy above, sounds a lot like an advertising strategy. That is exactly what it is. Advertisers want  a way to get their product out there. By doing so, they sometimes strike up something controversial so their product will be buzzing through the mouths of many people. They will deceive their audience in their best interest. Journalists are also doing this by posting controversial headlines to their articles.

As the article "Digital Media Ethics" points out, the public is the driving force behind publishing stories. This influences the ethics of journalism greatly. The public is a driving force because they are the ones retweeting and sharing and starting debates on these stories. They are the ones spreading the news, yet they are also the ones being trolled by journalists. The cycle really comes full circle.

This particular article found in the "Strop trolling your readers" article is the perfect example of trolling.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/should-single-women-be-allowed-to-vote

"Should Single Women Be Allowed to Vote" is an article that raises a very controversial topic. It explains whether or not single women should be allowed to vote. To be honest, this is not a newsworthy nor relevant article, so why write it? Because the journalist will get his name out there and his story noticed. Where have the ethics gone in online journalism?

The advertising tactics, should not be used in the journalism world. Journalists are there to inform the public, and keep their trust. By "trolling" their readers, they are breaking the code of ethics. If someone is a great journalist, their stories will get shared for being great. They don't need to rely on a controversial headline to get someone to read their story. Real journalists should not have to deceive their readers to get shares or likes.