Turning an ear towards the critics

 

Anna Birk

ab383718@ohio.edu

As journalism students, we are taught to question the integrity of the world around us. Raised as skeptics of humanity, we grow to view the world through that lens. What we often are unprepared for, however, is when the general public is skeptic of us. From day one, we are sat down and fed information about how the general public distrusts our profession. While, for many students and professionals, this is disheartening, it could be the perfect opportunity to learn from critics, so we may become better trusted in the future. It may not be surprising to find that the viewpoints of those who distrust the news media, may not be incredibly outlandish. 

Found in the, "Introduction to Ethical Thinking," chapter of, "Moral Reasoning for Journalists," written by Steven Knowlton and Bill Reader, is the important question: is the definition of, "good," the same throughout every interpretation, or does it change? While there are various ways of analyzing this question, the focal point for journalists lies within utilitarianism. 

Utilitarianism, in short, is deciding which outcome, in a given situation, will benefit the greatest amount of people – and then acting on that decision. Translated to the world of journalism ethics, this means: to report, or not to report? This ethical line becomes blurry, however, between various news organizations and reporters, thus impacting the public's trust of the news. Why bother trusting any news, when media outlets hold varying ethical codes, and report differently on the same events? 

The NPR code of ethics holds the line, "this handbook is intended not as a prescriptive list of do's and don'ts. Rather, it is a foundation upon which staff should consider these ... principals and exercise judgement in deciding how to ... serve our audiences with journalism they can trust." Looking from the eyes of someone with no reporting background, this line can seem as if reporters could have their own agenda: to deliberately con the reader. After all, if judgement is left to individual reporters, each could have their own idea of ethical. 

                     33% of U.S. adults say they have, "not too much," confidence that journalists

                act in the best interests of the public, according to a study by Pew Research Center. 

                                    

Michael Schudson, for the Columbia Journalism Review, counters that perhaps the core values of journalism should be more clear-cut for viewers. News consumers are often unaware of a code of ethics within organizations, or that the overarching goal is to seek the truth and hold accountability. Schudson makes an excellent point in that, news organizations need to communicate to their audience the difference between their writing departments, how news is gathered and the fact-checking process behind a story. 

The general public deserves not only to know the truth of what occurs in the world around, but also within their newsrooms. Rebuilding the public's trust of the news media should be one of our first goals as student journalists and as we enter our professions.