Staying Alive - Ethical Journalism

Barbara Harring - bh572115@ohio.edu

 

Switchboard operators and computers are occupations that have become obsolete with the advancement of technology. Computers? Yes, computers used to be human beings who calculated and verified complex equations.

Human computers in the High Speed Flight Station at Dryden Flight Research - 1949 - Photo credit -Wikimedia Dryden.jpg

Newspaper publishers are feeling the impact of the trend away from print media and toward online sources of news. Sales have declined and journalists have been laid off.

One concern recognized by the authors of the Elements of Journalism book is that technology is delivering the ability to create and publish news into the hands of anyone with a network connection and a chip-enabled device. To sustain the art of journalism into the future, the role of the journalist must transform with the times to complement this inevitable transfer.

It seems like journalists just need to rise above the new norm to create a higher quality of news and to serve as the ultimate authority for factual, verifiable, honest-to-goodness truth. As noted in the Elements of Journalism, journalists will become the “authenticators” of the information presented by the new wave of self-regulated correspondents.

The problem is that people are losing trust in the media. Even the most reputable news organizations and well-known journalists are going to make mistakes, but to repeat those mistakes almost seems like a choice. Repeatedly retracting stories, providing excuses for not vetting and verifying credible sources, and providing inaccurate information is not helping to recapture trust. Is it more important to fall under the pressure of producers who insist on immediate reporting to break the story first even when there are many unknown details? Ultimately, if the media continue on this path, the trained, skilled, media professional may be phased out like the human computer.

Although I love technology and the ability to access news at any time, anywhere, I wonder about the loss of the skilled journalist, the ultimate authority of this profession. I want to believe we will never be able to replace human knowledge in any profession. The ones who guide, instruct, and advise based on their expertise and understanding will hopefully never become obsolete.

Even though there are poor examples in modern-day journalism, there are quality, high-integrity, practitioners who will continue to uphold the ethical standards of this profession. We need to make an effort to recognize these individuals and model their commitment and behavior. We need to focus on restoring the trust of our citizens before the press is swept away by the sea of devices connected to the internet, one of the most powerful tools in the world that can disseminate information at the speed of light. 

References:

Crow, S. (2018, Apr 23). 20 Professions From the 20th Century That No Longer Exist. Retrieved from Bestlifeonline.com: https://bestlifeonline.com/obsolete-jobs/ 

Holland, B. (018, Aug 22). Human Computers: The Women of NASA. Retrieved from History.com: https://www.history.com/news/human-computers-women-at-nasa

 

Kovach, B., & Rosenstiel, T. (n.d.). The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Shoud Know and the Public Should Expect (Revised and Updated 3rd Edition ed.).

Saperstein, T. (2014, Dec 6). Harvard Political Review. Retrieved from The Future of Print: Newspapers Struggle to Survive in the Age of Technology: http://harvardpolitics.com/covers/future-print-newspapers-struggle-survive-age-technology/