Navigating the Media Minefield

Juliana Colant

colant02@gmail.com

Navigating the minefield that has become our media today is tricky, especially for journalists, let alone the general public. First, let's think about navigating the media from the viewpoint of the general public. It baffles me how much the internet has influenced media. There are a plethora of news sources available to the public nowadays. It is an overwhelming amount and there is no guidance for people on what is trustworthy and what is not. Talk about exhausting. How can people know what news to follow? 

Today, online news outweighs print news, thus changing journalism revenues. Money comes from assets like advertising and page clicks. So, naturally, journalism has strayed from focusing on reporting the truth. Instead it focuses on what will make the news company money, what will draw viewers and how can they sell their ad space for a larger profit. Combine that with the average citizens need for political power trip and the result is media confusion. It comes across as each news source trying to put on the best facade to draw readers. As a result, readers are left wondering who to trust.  

Now I know that paragraph was kind-of a condescending and pessimistic view towards journalism. But, honestly, I am not trying to put down journalism, just raise awareness that a reader must view news through a different lens than in the past. Today, readers are required to second-guess what they read and not blindly follow the herd of what everyone else believes. These days, one cannot be spoon-fed a news source and accept it as the full unbiased truth. Instead, they must take that spoonful, spit it back out and re-chew it through by fact checking process. 

We learned in class last week how greatly the public distrusts the media, yikes. According to Forbes, "fewer Americans than ever before trust the mainstream media." Personally, I found the most shocking statistic from Forbes to be that 61% of Americans think"The media is not doing well at being objective and non-partisan." 

Similar to Forbes findings, according to Pew Research Center, only about four-in-ten Americans trust their favored media. 

This week's class reading spoke about the ethics, what it means and how it affects journalists. Journalists are faced with the responsibility of being ethical. However, they are not required to be ethical. There is no law preventing journalists from being unethical, it is just expected. To further elaborate, the text uses the example of a democracy. In order for a democracy to work, it is expected citizens follow the laws. Often times, people choose to follow the laws in order to prevent consequences and chaos. 

The text also expands on the idea that journalism is a profession of public service. Journalists are faced with the daunting civic duty of remaining ethical in a media world full of poor examples and influence. However, I have faith my upcoming generation of journalists will change the narrative. People deserve truthful news. Take out the money, political bias, tabloid journalism and spinmeisters. Don't overcomplicate it and stick to ethical reporting. By doing anything less is a disservice. 

However, that does raise the question of what is ethical journalism? The Society of Professional Journalists spell out an extensive code of ethics, which can be found here. It focuses on seeking truth and reporting it, minimizing harm, acting independently and being accountable and transparent. Again though, just because there are ethics, doesn't mean journalists must follow them. Overall, ethical thinking is a minefield, much like navigating media today. This does not make me lose faith. My generation of journalists have their gear and are ready to go to battle.