Principles of Journalism in the midst of a “Hot News Cycle”

Kate Nolen - katenolen27@gmail.com

The number one obligation of a journalist is to the truth (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2014). However, in today’s media cycles it becomes a question of – is this the obligation of truth to everyone, or simply appeasing the customer base that reads a specific media outlet because they follow the same ideologies or views?  

In an era when a global pandemic, economic crisis, and racial inequality dominate the headlines, journalist and the media organizations they work for appear to be more interested in grabbing viewers’ attention rather than ensuring the age-old adage of “the truth and nothing but the truth.“ 

In the recent AP article on CNN, Hot news cycle leads CNN to best ratings in 40 years, it’s evident that organizations ask journalists to be focused more so on profitability as much as content in most cases. The deviation from providing readers with the facts appears to have been compromised and are more about news for profit and less about accuracy and transparency.

For instance, the context has always been a crucial part of every story. When elements of a story are taken out of context, journalists have the power to manipulate the message so that it is more appealing to their customer base and in line with their organization’s bias. It seems as though a journalist has an ethical dilemma to straddle the divide between truth and what gets ratings. 

Sadly, even if retraction is given, it’s already out there and the chances of the original readers seeing the retraction comment is slim. Instances like this are what contribute to the distrust in media readers have today. 

An example of this is explained in a Seattle Time article, Fox News runs digitally altered images in coverage of Seattle’s protests, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. In the article, you see how images from several different days were altered to seem like one situation being written about. Misleading and deceptive actions like this are what has directly led to a distrust of media today. 

Manipulated Image: This digitally manipulated  image was published on the Fox News homepage on June 12 with stories about Seattle. The image combines scenes from two different June 10 photographs from Capital Hill.

This digitally manipulated image was published on the Fox News homepage on June 12 with stories about Seattle, The image combines scenes from a June 10 photograph from Capitol Hill by David Ryder with two May 30 images from downtown by Karen Ducey.

This will probably always be an issue in our society as long as media outlets are paid-for ads and viewership, there will always be a race to the top to be the most utilized source. 

As a viewer, it’s hard to determine if what we’re reading is the truth, or is it an unregulated statement or photo much like the one in this blog? This all ties back to the VoiceThread for this week and helps to explain why trust in the media is low and across the board.