kf378616@ohio.edu
Trust: "A firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something." Trust is a concept that consumers started to doubt when the idea of fake news was brought into society. Many question, "When did fake news truly start?" Some would say that it didn't start to take form until President Donald Trump announced he was running for the oval office. Time and time again he called out media outlets for exposing fake news about him and his candidacy. While others believe it has been an issue in society for decades. Whether you believe it started in the 2016 presidential race or 20 years ago, most can agree that this idea has put a negative look onto journalists and their ethical beliefs. Chapter 1 of Moral Reasonings For Journalists written by Steven Knowlton and Bill Reader, begs the question, does the consumer distrust the news or distrust the ethics of those who write such news?
Many people blame the negative state of journalism because journalists are in it for the money and they have a political bias. One of the quotes that stuck out to me in the chapter was, "The criticisms are that, because of corruption, bias, or sloth, journalists are not living up to their moral obligations to report and write certain things in certain ways (5)." Forms of social media have painted a mask over what true and honest journalism is. There are many social media accounts that have the pure purpose of posting fake stories for people to talk about. In this case, they are doing it for the clicks and doing it for the money. These are the types of things that cause people to question journalists ethical values and lose trust in the journalism industry.
(Facebook announced as the top media outlet for fake news consumption)
Source link: https://thenextweb.com/facebook/2018/07/14/facebooks-fight-against-fake-news-stops-short-of-banning-it/
This video talks about how studies show that Facebook is the number one site for fake news to be spread. Since this study was presented to the public Facebook has taken measures to stop the spread of this idea that damages the credibility of the journalism industry. They have told users to report any fake news that pops up on their feed. This article by Wired. com states, "By far the biggest change to come with these announcements is the introduction of a new metric called Click-Gap, which Facebook's news feed algorithms will use to determine where to rank a given post. " With this new initiative, Facebook can identify posts that users are calling fake news. Methods like the Click-Gap can help gain the trust of readers and positively impact the reputation of journalists.
I really like the code of ethics that the Society of Professional Journalists abides by. SPJ says, "Ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair, and thorough. An ethical journalist acts with integrity." Journalism is all about telling the truth and getting an honest story out there that the audience needs to know. A journalist with a strong and positive ethical backbone can help ensure that consumers will read the truth and get honest information out of their pieces. I really liked the quote from chapter 1 of Moral Reasoning For Journalist that says, "Journalists of all kinds, be that students or seasoned veterans, need to be able to respond to criticism and to join in thoughtful discussion concerning what newspeople do, how they do it, and why. That discussion must also include considerations of what journalists should do, how they should do it, and why. (5) I like the idea that if journalists engage in the conversation and listen to the consumers we can change the face of journalism and how society looks at journalists and their ethical and moral values.
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