Clearly, the way the world shares information has evolved
since the nightly news, and the Sunday paper were our primary suppliers of news
and information. Moreover, we are no
longer only targets of local news markets but the larger national and world news
markets because of their accessibility and influence. With the rise of social media and advances in
online news sources, there is now an abundance of information right at our fingertips. Because of this, the public information community
has ascended into chaos. A 2017 Brookings.edu
report titled How to Combat Fake News and Disinformation claims that "a recent
poll found that only 14 percent of republicans believe that the media reports
the news accurately, compared to 62 percent of democrats." We
have a community that is so convinced it is being lied to, that it will
literally believe anything.
Picture source: Mandel Ngan/Getty Images
Currently, our ethics systems are built on the integrity and
professionalism of our colleagues, upheld through membership to organizations
such as the American Advertising Federation and the Public Relations Society of
America, and the commitment to their code of ethics. Unfortunately, those systems only apply to
those willing to follow them. In today’s
media having controversial opinions send ratings through the roof and claims of
“fake news” undermine the truth in an instance.
While accountability can be shielded by claims of “wokeness” or “cancel culture”.
Navigating the chaos has become one of
the greatest challenges the people of the world face today
News sources are no longer a brick-and-mortar business, organizations
no longer hide behind three-letter logos, or need a corner news stand to reach their
audience. And with that communication
professionals no longer require a formal education or introductory course to a
code of ethics, or face the threats that come with formal accountability. Today anyone with a message
and a URL, Facebook page, Twitter account, or an 8chan message board can amass
a following and create their own version of truth for the public to consume. The net is simply too wide, and because of this
it is impossible to tell who is following a code at all let alone hold them
accountable.
To make matters worse, the way we consume our news is no
longer a conscience choice. According to
Dipayan Ghosh of the Harvard Business Review, who explains that social media platforms are notorious
for feeding us information using complex algorithms “often to expose us to more radical
posts that we may have never sought out on our own” in order to shape our understanding
of truth.
The community has become so murky that one of my sources, a .edu
domain site, which historically is considered a trusted source, Brookings.edu has
a reputation for being a left leaning propaganda machine and has been called
into question for many ethics codes violations according to Forbes.com.
It is literally almost impossible to know what is true and equitable
anymore.
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