Journalism Today: Is It Unethical to Put Our Opinions on Social Media?

Julia Gogol
jg152015@ohio.edu

Journalists using social media platforms to voice their personal opinions has long been an issue discussed by newspapers and the public alike. With technology advancing at such a rapid pace, do journalists have a right to let their voices be heard?

We all know people read the news from sources they know will tell them what they want to hear. My argument to that is this: if journalists stayed completely unbiased, people wouldn't pick one news source over another. The public would have the facts, not the opinionated truth provided to them by left-wing or right-wing editors.

As journalists, we have a responsibility to give the public the whole truth, whether we agree with that truth or not. People would then be able to form their own opinions and make their own arguments, without being swayed by bias. Journalists are in a unique position.  We are the medium between what's happening in the world around us and the screens in people's hands. We are influencers, and if we post our personal beliefs on social media, we are abusing that power.

Social media for journalists should be used as a platform to showcase your work. It's unnecessary to make comments about whatever tweet or Instagram post you disagree with. If it's something that controversial, give the facts, and I'm sure the majority will nod their heads in agreement.

With "fake news" and distrust of the media being as high as it is, giving the public the unbiased facts is more important than ever. According to a study performed by the Pew Research Center, "Only about two-in-ten Americans (22%) trust the information they get from local news organizations a lot, whether online or offline, and 18% say the same of national organizations."

Journalists today have more opportunities and channels to reach their audience than their previous colleagues could've ever dreamed of. According to the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, "Social media offer opportunities for news organizations to reach more people than ever before.  For young people, in particular, social media news feeds, not news websites, are their major news sources."

Courtesy of ING

On this contrasting survey above, you can see that, while 60 percent of journalists say they should remain unbiased on social media, 66 percent of them also say they express themselves differently on social media than they would on their traditional news platforms.

In regard to political opinions, EthicNet states, "If work in political parties, taking part in demonstrations and solving urgent social issues results or may result in a conflict of interests, raises or may raise the question of objectivity of mass media, it is not acceptable."

If it is unethical for a journalist to participate in a political demonstration, why would posting your opinion on a much more public form of media be any less jeopardizing to the trust of the media?

Journalists need to come to a consensus about whether or not to voice personal opinions on social media. I believe those thoughts are your own and do not need to be posted, Tweeted, Snapchatted, or any of the above. Journalists have opinions, everyone does. But, because of our unique situation and the influence we have over the public, those opinions should remain unvoiced, unheard, and completely our own.