Where is the Line?

Hannah Pridemore

hp138016@ohio.edu

Many people turn to high-profile newspapers and outlets when it comes to finding a reliable source of information. We believe that the journalists working there are as unbiased as they can possibly be, while also getting the job done. As a journalist, I can understand the separation between emotion and work that it takes to cover certain topics, but are journalists losing their humanity?

Picture source: Hannah Pridemore

It's no secret that journalism is a competitive field as multiple outlets try to one-up each other by posting the next big story. We all want to be the best and be recognized for our hard work, but is the story worth compromising your values over?

This question comes up quite often when I listen to The Daily by The New York Times. The host, Michael Barbaro, is great at getting the responses people want to hear, but during some of his interviews, it feels as though he's prodding into personal territory that would be better left untouched.

This leads to important questions that all journalists must ask themselves when pursuing stories: When does my investigation become too much? Where is the line and am I comfortable crossing it?

It feels as though journalists who work at major news outlets are losing touch with their readers. They can come off as quite haughty and holier-than-though on social media and do not seem to take no for an answer. They'll ask offensive questions in an interview and have no concept of leaving certain topics alone.

But isn't that the whole point of journalism, to leave no stone unturned? Or am I just being overly pessimistic? I think the answer to both of these questions would be a hard 'yes'. But I think there's a valid reason for this disdain.

With social media being as all-encompassing as it is and the 24-hour news cycle never slowing down, I'm experiencing information overload. There's so much information out there that's being sent directly to my phone that I can't stomach the idea of reading one more article for the rest of my life, and it doesn't seem like I'm the only one experiencing this.

This over-stimulation has prompted studies into whether or not our abundance of information is leading to a downturn in news seeking. If this is true, we could have a vicious cycle ahead of us. If readership goes down, who's to say journalists won't try to outdo themselves in finding the biggest and hardest-hitting stories they possibly can. 

Journalism as an industry has a lot of work to do, but I would argue that one of the most important precedents that need to be set is finding the balance between humanity and a good story.