Does Truth Exist in Journalism Anymore?

Jeannie Golden

jg488519@ohio.edu

The Intent of Journalism

The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel states that the primary purpose of journalism is to provide the public with the information they need to be free and self-governing. That is the original intent of the profession. So much has changed from that original intent. Now anyone can be a journalist of sorts, and as such, not everyone enters into the field with the same level of original integrity. Journalism provides “something unique to culture, independent, reliable, accurate, and comprehensive information that citizens require in order to make sense of the world around them” (pg. 4). The news can be found everywhere; television, radio, books, magazines, and the unlimited internet, but are all examples of the news true to its original intent? As a citizen, I want the type of journalism that is true its origins, but, in a world with ‘fake news,’ my faith that it still exists is apprehensive at best. Does independent, reliable, and accurate journalism exist anymore? Is there truth in journalism anymore?

 American journalist and photojournalist

Loss of Credibility

In 2018, Ann Curry, American journalist, and photojournalist, gave a TEDTalk in Portland, Oregon entitled “How to restore trust in Journalism.” During the presentation, she asks, “what do we define as truth”? She goes on to say that what we know as truth can be jumbled with all of the other content that we have in our brains, all of the other things that we have seen, stories we have heard, and opinions we have been subjected to. The point she makes stating this is that even if we receive information from a credible and trusted source, it can become mixed in with all of the other sources, some less credible, and therefore all of the information becomes suspect. The power to influence public opinion is heady, and according to Curry, why everyone wants to control the narrative. If truth is out there, how do we find it?

A Responsibility of Personal Conscience

"Every journalist, from the occassional citizen sentinel or freelancer to the newsroom, to the manager who visits the boardroom, must have a personal sense of ethics and responsibility - a moral compass" (Kovach & Rosenstiel, pg. 272).

In truth, we should all have a responsibility of personal conscience, but is personal conscience the same as being objective and is being objective the same as being truthful? Lewis Raven Wallace wrote a blog post in 2017, questioning objectivity in journalism. The same blog post got him fired, and a subsequent article was written by Wallace for Medium detailing the firing. Wallace seemed to be thinking out loud, so to speak in his blog, positioning questions of personal conscience rather than statements of fact. As a transgender reporter at the start of the Trump campaign, he questioned objectivity and truth, as many did. After reading the article, I asked myself again, is personal conscience the same as being objective and truthful? The answer is hard to come by. For some, it is indeed the same for others, though, perhaps not. I go back to my original question, does truth exist in journalism anymore? That answer is less difficult. Yes, it does, but as citizens and consumers of the efforts of journalism, I think we have a responsibility to request truth, demand it even, do our own homework, and know who we can or even should trust. 

Like I stated at the start of this blog, I want the type of journalism that is true to the origins of the craft. To get that, I must play my part. I must seek out the sources that have proven credibility and whose personal conscience is evident in their bodies of work.