Blame the journalist

By: Julia Leonard
jl123515@ohio.edu

(Cartoon by: Michelle Phillips. The Sun - Southwestern College)

When something is published that people don't like or agree with, who do they blame? Not the person or thing the story is about, but rather the person who wrote it. Journalist are always to blame. They are always under fire in our society.

The media is constantly portrayed as the enemy of the people. But are they really? I look at it this way – if there are five bad apples from a giant apple tree are all the apples bad? There are publishers out there who stretch the truth to sell the story. But there are also those who are living by their code of ethics and trying to help for the greater good. Why should all media be silent just because one bad apple ruined a story?

If I asked you to name five journalist off the top of your head, could you? If you can, why is that name in your head. Do you constantly read their stories? Are they always on the TV? Do you subscribe to their podcast? Why are they more prominent in your head than other journalists?

According to an article by The Atlantic Magazine, Americans hate the media because of lost credibility from the journalist. Previously, journalists who would show up in movies or TV shows were more prominently known. Today, publishers are on a constant search to find ways to lower "penetration" rates as less and less Americans pay attention to the news.

Each journalist has their own code of ethics. They can change from person to person but remain similar across the globe. One of the biggest struggles journalists have, especially young journalists, is finding out what the real truth is. With so many different platforms now available on social media, who is to say that a tweet isn't 100 percent true. This is where a journalist's code of ethics comes to play.

You have to carefully analyze a source to determine its truth. The last thing any journalist wants to do is report wrong information. Even if it is a misspelling of a name. You can easily lose creditability right then and there if you don't take the right steps in fact checking your sources. One thing I've learned in college is to never take something at face value. Always dig deeper and find more, it's out there.

It's hard to tell the truth. Especially if the truth may hurt someone. But the SPJ Code of Ethics stands on a pillar of truth. Seek truth and report it is the first pillar of this code. Even if it will hurt your best friend's feelings. As the media, we have an duty to report to the people. We are for the people even thought that can be twisted around in today's society. We are not the enemy as some may see us to be.

As a journalist, it is vital to live by your code of ethics. Without ethics, media becomes a free for all. People do as they want. It becomes a dog eat dog world. Almost as if the mayor tells your town there are no longer laws on your city, a newspaper can crash without a code of ethics.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqO_6aTFXR0&t=104s)