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Everything Is News - Even What You Don't Want To Hear
Before starting my journey to becoming a news reporter, I never noticed how important journalism and news are to the entire world. There is a desire for the currency of news that journalists bring about. A person doesn't realize what is actually considered to be news until you don't have it. Weather is news. Reality television is news. Politics is news. Just about everything you read about on your social media sites in the morning after you wake up or in your bed before you fall asleep at night is news.
But in the more recent years, journalists have been facing a downward slope of trust from their readers - and it's only on the decline according to the Pew Research Center. To build trust back up, journalists have been creating sets of guidelines on how to make their writing as trust-worthy and ethical as possible. There are such fine lines that journalists have to walk to make sure they convey the right amount of information to the public without causing any harm to the people obtaining the information and the people whom the information is about.
Some journalist decide to cross that line in order to share as much information (typically about a story that has a MASSIVE amount of important - and sometimes sensitive - information in it) as they can, for what they feel may be the right idea. There are no limits as to what a writer can share with the public, even suggestions. Some of these suggestions come in the form of ethics codes and mission statements to ensure that no matter who you write for, you are at least trying to write the best you can. Examples include the Society of Professional Journalists - Code of Ethics and more.
Crossing THAT Line
The perfect example of what not to do was demonstrated by a young writer, Jayson Blair. He started his career for the Times and in a few short months he ruined it for himself. Blair was out-performing even the most experienced journalists almost immediately, producing front-page stories constantly. It didn't take long for reporters to start realizing that Blair showed up out of nowhere. Eric Lichtblau, the Department of Justice chair for the Times, started hearing suspicions from other colleagues. Some were questioning his use of anonymous sources and how they were often false.
Lichtblau brought the attention to the news editor, but the comments were slid under the carpet and pinned as jealousy by other reporters. After a thorough investigation was launched, the other reporters concerns were confirmed. Blair was not the "hot-shot" reporter that everyone thought he was. He was a liar, a plagiarist, and cheated his way to the top by stealing other people's hard work. This eventually lead straight to his resignation.
Use Your Brain
Very obviously, what Jayson Blair did was wrong on so many levels. Ethics Codes and Mission Statements were created as guidelines for journalists to use, but what Blair did was morally incorrect. If something you're writing about is taken straight from another person's work or you're lying to make a good story, you will get caught. You have an obligation to the public to relay accurate and precise information. If you feel like something you've written is crossing THAT line, ask another person for their opinion and use your brain.
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