Ethics In Journalism

Rossen Vassilev Jr.
rv727716@ohio.edu

The three articles in the 1st readings for this week offer three very different expert opinions, each trying to explain from a distinct political/ideological perspective the reasons for declining public confidence in the mainstream news media. Echoing the political pessimism of Walter Lippmann's seminal book Public Opinion, Brooke Gladstone, a contemporary liberal writer, asserts that while Americans demand accuracy and impartiality from journalists, what they really want is “affirmation” of their own traditional views, political beliefs, ideological prejudices and stereotypes.

Reviving the old Nixonian mistrust of and hostility toward the “liberal news media,” Timothy Carney, a conservative columnist, blames the “liberal bias” of journalists for fostering “distrust among readers and viewers.” Rekindling old grievances about racism and discrimination, Communications Professor Catherine Squires blames American journalism's “double standard” regarding the country's black minority for African-Americans' distrust of the news media as “an institution.”

Public trust in the news media seems to have declined even further in the three years since the publication of these three articles. According to a 2017 piece in The Hill, a liberal online newspaper, “Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the mainstream press is full of fake news, a sentiment that is held by a majority of voters across the ideological spectrum. According to data from the latest Harvard-Harris poll, which was provided exclusively to The Hill, 65 percent of voters believe there is a lot of fake news in the mainstream media. That number includes 80 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of independents and 53 percent of Democrats. Eighty-four percent of voters said it is hard to know what news to believe online.”

The lack of credibility crisis is getting much worse today due to the very acrimonious political climate, divisive partisan politics, and especially the controversies surrounding the so-called “fake news media,” which President Donald Trump has bombastically and rather opportunistically labeled “the number one enemy of the American people.” (Does this mean that Al-Qaeda and ISIS/ISIL are off the hook now?!)

But this fashionable, if self-serving “trumpism” is confirmed by the results of more credible public-opinion surveys such as the Axios/MonkeySurvey poll conducted June 15-19, 2018, according to which 72 percent of all respondents think that the news media tend to report “fake, false or purposely misleading news,” including 92 percent of Republicans, 79 percent of independents and 53 percent of Democrats. Only 25 percent of all respondents in that particular poll believe that the news media “rarely or never” lie, including just 7 percent of Republicans, 20 percent of independents and 46 percent of Democrats. President Trump has himself contributed the most to the perceived absence of honesty and truthfulness in politics by reportedly averaging 15 false or misleading claims a day throughout 2018.

What are my thoughts on The Elements of Journalism chapters 1 and 10 in the 2nd readings for this week? In my opinion, the most valuable and useful contribution of these two chapters is setting forth the essential principles and obligations of ethical journalism, as listed in the book's Introduction. Here specifically are the ten elements of ethical responsibility common to all good journalism, according to authors Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel (page 9):

1. Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.
2. Its first loyalty is to citizens.
3. Its essence is a discipline of verification.
4. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.
5. It must serve as an independent monitor of power.
6. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.
7. It must strive to keep the significant interesting and relevant.
8. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.
9. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.
10. Citizens have rights and responsibilities when it comes to the news as well—even more so as they become producers and editors themselves. (In the age of the Internet, any social media-savvy citizen can be a journalist).

To these ten essential elements of responsible journalism one may add other ethical responsibilities and standards such as objectivity, honesty, fairness, balance, accuracy, impartiality, transparency, accountability, credibility, etc.

I personally believe that a good, conscientious media professional must adhere to these journalistic principles and practices at all times, even if it means being fired from one's job or investigated, interrogated and black-listed by the government—as in the case of a popular Bulgarian investigative reporter, Ms. Dyliana Guytandzhieva, who had reported that huge quantities of Bulgaria's heavy weaponry were being shipped by American and Saudi middlemen to Al-Nusra (Al-Qaeda) and other jihadist terrorist gangs in Syria. Or even if it means being arbitrarily prosecuted, arrested and thrown in jail—like Julian Assange, the great Wikileaks journalist, who has now become the world's most famous political prisoner.

But I fear that professional journalism nowadays is moving in the exact opposite direction. For example, if Daniel Ellsberg had submitted the top-secret Pentagon Papers to our leading newspapers today (rather than in 1971), no current chief editor would dare publish them for fear of being branded a traitor, a threat to national security or a puppet of North Vietnam and Communist China. Because ethically responsible journalism is much easier said than done.