Journalists Have a Responsibility to Conscience

Democracy requires transparency and openness from it's branches of government in order to operate effectively and fairly. As we have often stated in class, the news media is considered the fourth branch of government. This means that we expect to see the same transparency and openness from the news media. Transparency and openness also need to reflect inside the institution itself. Checks and balances should be everywhere.

If journalism claims to be an institution of the government, it needs to function like one. This can include speaking out about something that you, as a journalist, feel wrong about; whether this is in your own organization or another. It is okay for journalists to have a conscience, though I am not sure it should be called a "moral compass" as Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel say. This is because people have vastly different feelings on issues that are typically deemed to be moral. I find that I do not like the authors' use of the words moral and ethical interchangeably. Journalists should not be deciding what is moral. Ethical is more of a word that suggests they work through a process of decision-making. This way it is not a doctrine but more of a guidance of conduct. Ethics is more along the lines of separation of church and state, which is mainly what this country believes in. This will help the process of democracy work more smoothly and fairly.

Engagement and Relevance

News organizations used to hold a monopoly; there was no other substitute. Now, however, that is not the case. There are a limitless amount of organizations that produce news (reputable or not). This means that the (mostly) reliable news sources have more competition than ever and they have to find a way to stand out. Generally, I think that the best way to stand out is by being the most accurate and unbiased source there is and there are some organizations that do follow that. However, there are also some that honestly exploit their audience and care more about viewership and ratings than the actual news they are producing.

There is a fine balance that journalists have to walk between keeping their audience, the citizens, engaged and keeping their stories relevant and newsworthy. Technology has led more people to be even less entertained by the news. This has led to news taking a different sort of turn away from what it used to be. It is more often seen that the news takes on a storytelling type of writing. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as their purpose is telling stories whose purpose is providing people with information they need to understand the world.

News organizations need to understand that while they may want to write their news as a story, what really matters is substance. THAT is what will keep audiences coming back. THAT is what will build a stronger and more loyal audience. People in this day and age simply do not have time to comb through a billion different media sources. They will always go to two or three familiar places. In order to be a go to source, news organizations will need to make sure that they help people conserve their time by writing stories on relevant and significant information. There should not be too many fluff stories. And if there are, there should be a specific place for them. Headlines should be straight headlines. They should not be incendiary or biased, they should simply state fact. Citizens have a right to demand this from their news organizations.