The Whole Truth

Xiaohan Mu
xm994412@ohio.edu

As an international student majoring in journalism, studying at OU, and coming from China, I'm very  sensitive about the trustworthy of news.

In China, people are always wondering about whether the news reporting is true. One of the typical concerns is when bad things like an earthquake happens, the number of people who died in the accident. 

There is even a magical number 7-- every time they report, there are 27, 37, or 47 people reported dead in every accident.

We all know that Chinese journalism is pretty much controlled by the government. Normally the government does this to avoid threatening people. But when it happens too often, people started questioning. 

This, as showed is a tornado happening in Guangzhou, China. People reported 7 people died until this morning. Lots of people doubt it, but the tragedy is still unfolding.

In my opinion, one of the most important things of media ethics is the reliability of the source. Because the purpose of journalism is to make sure that people get to know the truth. People have the right to question journalists, but as journalists we need to make sure that we are telling the truth.