New Era of Journalism: Truth and Transparency

Haley Rischar
hr443214@ohio.edu

Fake news hashtag on Twitter

The question of what news is trustworthy is constantly called into question in today's digital age. In the new era of fake news and a lack of credibility, how journalism is created and delivered has completely transformed.

The Building Principles for Journalists, a set of core values for journalists with the democratic values of the digital era, look very different from principles originally drafted by Poynter in the 1990s. With the first principle, "seek truth and report it as fully as possible", remaining the same, the other two principles have changed from "act independently to "be transparent" and "minimize harm" to "engage community as an end, rather than a means".

While truth is still the most important value, a fight for independence has become a call for accountability and self-awareness.

According to the New Ethics of Journalism, "The principle of transparency informs not just how we judge our conflicts of interest but how we tell the story of journalism itself. The stories created by journalists rely heavily on systems like social media platforms, outside of our control, yet suddenly crucial to the marketplace of ideas."

Although the the public is becoming increasingly polarized, creating a demand for transparency, news organizations have not yet perfected how to practice openness and communication with their audiences.

ProPublica has been a leader in showing audiences their judgement processes early on by releasing a note on why the publication decided to partner with the Guardian on their release of the Snowden documents, while Margaret Sullivan, former public editor of the New York Times, once regularly shed light on how NYT shapes it's stories on their opinion section "The Public Editor".

In a study by the Reynolds Journalism Institute, posts that demonstrated an audience desire to to learn more about journalism, to interact with journalists or to share information contained factors such as, being framed around what the organization could do for the user, contained topics people were already inclined to interact with, gave people something specific to react to, read like they were written by real people, invited people to be their best selves and respected the organizations existing relationship with users.

Along with a need for transparency, community also comes into the picture within the digital media age.

"The news serves the community for which it was produced," says the New Ethics of Journalism. "Nothing could come closer to the idea of journalism in the public interest."

All curators of news have a duty to live up the public responsibility of informing the masses. While there is an ever growing skepticism over the credibility and motives of today's media, the truth is still a source the public craves and it is the role of journalists to deliver it as transparent and truthful as possible.