Ethics in Journalism: New Dogs, (Outgrowing) Old Tricks

 Kat Willette 

kw154717@ohio.edu

    As you scroll through copious headlines making outlandish claims about political leaders, public figures and celebrities, your eyes begin to glaze over. Your thoughts wander and eventually settle around one familiar question that you are all too tired of asking; can I trust any of these sources?  

    While you may be tired of this cyclical pattern of leaning on modern media for information yet distrusting it, know that you are not alone. In fact, according to Felix Salmon of Axios Economy and Business, "56% of Americans agree with the statement that, 'Journalists and reporters are purposefully trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations'" (Salmon).  

    You read that correctly, over half of the nation strongly agrees that mainstream media's ultimate agenda is to mislead the public. This leads to the question that the new generation of journalists is plagued with: How can we gain back the trust of the public while also reporting with timeliness and accuracy?    

    As a member of this new wave of journalists, I have asked myself this question many times. While studying biased sources and extremely slanted political columns, it is hard to believe there is any current code of ethics at all. With so much emphasis being put on the sensationalism of a story, not to mention the crushing pressure to be the first news organization to publish, it seems as if the push for ethical writing practices has simply melted away. 

   Or, rather than melting away, perhaps the core values of journalism are changing as society morphs into a machine of ever-hungry consumers, demanding exciting news before it even has a chance to take place. As detailed by the Society of Professional Journalists, the core values of journalism are truth, minimizing harm, independence, accountability and transparency. While the new parameters of journalism do not cast away these points, it seems the silhouette of new media has been, or is in the midst of being, reshaped. 

    According to Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post, "Ask almost any group of journalists to name the core values of their profession, and they'll probably deliver a list like this: oversight, transparency, factuality, spotlighting wrongdoing and giving a voice to the voiceless" (Sullivan). 

    Although there is some overlap between these two ethical codes, such as transparency and accuracy, the modern code is much more specific, and is aimed more toward putting a microphone to the mouths of the historically unheard. 

Source: pngegg.com

    The current issue is building a bridge over the sea of grey between these two codes that is narrow enough to cast out rouge interpretation, yet wide enough for some creative thought.  This 'grey area' is what modern journalism is currently stuck between, leaving reporters entirely unsure of which code to follow, and thus thrusting the industry into this era of chaos and distrust. 

    However, there is a glimmer of hope in the form this new generation of journalists. Having witnessed media reaction to extremely vicious public events such as elections, debates and press conferences, we have seen the current state of journalism today and are ready to rewrite, adjust and unflinchingly apply a true code of ethics.