By: Alyssa Lanier
al634616@ohio.edu
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| Clarence Page receiving the Carr Van Anda Award (This picture was taken by Alyssa Lanier.) |
“Keep it simple stupid,” said Clarence Page at Ohio University’s first Ohio Talk during the fall. I think these words are very true in journalism. A journalist needs to be able to write an article that everyone can understand. If you use larger words in your writing that people need to look up in the dictionary, it takes the focus of the readers elsewhere.
Clarence Page earned his Bachelor of Science in journalism at Ohio University in 1969. He was the 1989 Pultizer Prize winner for Commentary. Currently, Page is a columnist for Tribune Media Services. He is also a member of the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board. He said he started his career as a journalist by joining the student paper at his high school to meet girls.
So, what are Clarence Page’s ethics for his writing? His ethics appear to have adapted slightly throughout the years to go along with what job he is writing for. He has worked for the paper, broadcast, and as stated above, is currently a columnist. As a columnist, he can give his opinion on what he is writing about which he did not really do as a reporter.
Page pointed out journalists who state their opinion early on in their career cheat themselves. The public loves transparency and they love to form their own opinions. They just need the facts and information to properly do so. That is a journalist’s main job- to provide the facts.
We should all be objective as journalists even though we cannot be objective as human beings. Journalists should try to be as fair and balanced as possible since it is what the public expects. Page said journalists need to learn to be aware and realize when they are not being balanced in their writing.
Journalists need to check facts and assume nothing. Once, Page had someone say to him, “Don’t assume or you will make an ass out of you and me.” Assumptions make a journalist’s writing flawed. It gives more room for error and for the public to prove them wrong. There are two sides to every story, so do not assume you are writing about the “right” side.
Some people have stated that journalists are careless people, but journalists care about what is going on too. Journalists have to do their job which is to report the news as unbiased as possible so the public can decide their opinion for themselves. If one journalist decides not to cover something, a different one will, which Page also stated during his speech. Journalists need to put the public first and guide them as much as possible with facts. Page stated that these ethics do not change regardless of the era of news.
Page said the public needs to learn how to ask questions to decide which news is trustworthy. I think this is something many people do not do when they read or hear something. People need to begin to dig deeper into what they are reading and discover who reports honest, transparent news. There are so many channels or websites to turn to, so I agree that people need to begin to ask their own questions.
The last thing Page said was to always be flexible as a journalist.
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