Journalism and the Public: It's Complicated

Sydney Fine

sf675318@ohio.edu

 

Relationship Status: It's Complicated

Journalism is an integral part of our society. We rely on journalists to inform us on the important issues facing our cities, our country, and the world.

The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel says that the desire for news is a basic human impulse. "People have an intrinsic need -- an instinct -- to know what is occurring beyond their own experience, the events over the next hill."

However, this AXIOS article describes how for the first time ever, fewer than half of all Americans have trust in traditional media.

Perhaps part of the problem is the increase in partisan journalism, opinion pieces, and entertainment news shows that some Americans have trouble distinguishing from fact-based journalism. If I had a dollar for every time that I saw someone on Facebook share an opinion article and present it as fact, I would be a rich woman. 

 

                                                    Picture source: Purdue Northwest Library

Unlike Facebook opinion writers, true journalists know that they need to follow a clear set of principles to live up to their duty to the public. These elements of journalism include rules such as, "journalism's first obligation is to truth" and "its practitioners have an obligation to exercise their personal conscience."

We must analyze our news sources to make sure that we are receiving our information from a reliable news source. Although it may be easier to read a friend's Twitter or Facebook post about a news topic, we must do the research ourselves from several credible news sources. 

There are articles, which provides resources on how to know if you can trust a news source.

Increasing media literacy can help increase trust in journalism. If we are confident that we are able to weed out unreliable sources of news, we can have more trust in the credible pieces of journalism that we find. 

Our society needs journalism in order to function, and journalists need us as an audience in order to exist. Our relationship might be filled with trust issues, but I think it can improve with some work on both ends. 

Journalists need to keep the truth and the best interest of the public in mind, and make it clear when articles are opinion or entertainment pieces. It can be hard to distinguish fact from opinion with all of the noise on social media, but we must keep trying to do our best.