Podcast Idea: Journalism Ethics
Journalism Ethics
What is it? How do we define it? And how do we practice it?
Journalistic integrity behind ethical journalism has a long and complicated history. All the way back to the Romans and their news publications on stone tabs to Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press. Fast forward to yellow journalism plaguing the media, perpetuating a culture for war-torn countries spreading propaganda. Now with modern day journalism battling the pendulum swing of politics and now its battle with artificial intelligence.
Photo from WWD
Historically, journalism has been used as a means of connecting people far and wide before technology allowed information to be at our fingertips at all hours of the day. Similarly from a culture perspective, journalists have worked to connect groups of people, but struggled early on to reach demographics of low-income societies as literacy rates were not sustainable. Economics and socio-political factors go hand in hand when it comes to journalism. News is free, but a journalist's salary is not. It’s hard finding ways to fund news. In the past, newspapers could sell advertisements as a way to keep themselves afloat. Now that technology has become the driving force of marketing, newspapers need new ways to pay for themselves. Typically, this comes from subscriptions, endowments, or having figure heads willing to help pay the way. The downside here is that when you have someone in particular paying for something, they tend to utilize their financial contributions as a way of swaying the narrative and controlling the agenda.
All of these focal points create interesting questions for journalists. What is ethical journalism? How do we define it? And how do we practice it? These all pose deeper, more complex questions about whether or not journalists should involve themselves as advocates or if they’re doomed to become pawns of billionaire puppeteers or if they should only act as neutral watchdogs.
To examine these questions further, beyond my own experience as the News Editor of the Christopher Newport University newspaper, The Captain’s Log (CLog), there are a few resources I would like to use for research to expand my perspective. The Clog is an independent organization that works solely under its own prerogative. It is not subject to parameters or influence of external forces, but I still have to make ethical considerations in my day-to-day job. Whether it’s publishing an article regarding a heavy topic, articles referring to specific people, or even making calls as to what gets published and what doesn’t, all come down to personal ethics.
Here is a list of a few resources I would like to utilize as a tool for expanding my knowledge on the topic beyond my own biases:
1: Article/Blog
The University of Pennsylvania released an article, In pursuit of truth: exploring journalistic integrity in the digital age, that highlights the challenges journalists face, a general code of ethics to follow, and even discusses things such as public trust and technological impacts.
2: Podcast
Pulitzer Prize-winning and former New York Times reporter Judith Miller detailed in a PragerU podcast Can You Trust the Press? discusses why the public has a shaky relationship with journalists and the significance this has for the future of journalism.
3: Documentary
Youtuber Mark Grabowski discusses in his video Journalism Ethics how journalistic integrity in specifically the United States has fallen and proposes possible solutions to this dilemma.
All of these resources will be helpful when examining my own questions and hearing expert opinions and solutions. The documentary proposes solutions on a more centralized and geographic location that is specialized to a certain demographic of people, similar to the podcast that provides insights from an American reporter. The article, however, provides more generalized information that will be helpful for providing an umbrella-like basis and foundation.
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