Staring in the Face of New Media and Remaining Ethical

Katie Hendershot

kh679010@ohio.edu

Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel posed a question at the end of the first chapter of their book, The Elements of Journalism: “Can journalists sustain in the 21st century the purpose that forged it in the three and a half centuries that came before?”

The entire first chapter searched for one answer: What is the purpose of journalism? The authors found the purpose of journalism to be “to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing.” They focused on the theme of journalists serving the community with a public service—to inform.

They dug deep into the very early stages of journalism and searched for the meaning it held to citizens in those times and touched on the inclusion of the freedom of the press in the Bill of Rights. Even in those times, journalism had the main purpose of serving the community.

The authors present a concept that says that though journalism is changing due to new forms of delivery, it still holds the very same purpose that it always has—to give the public what it needs.

It’s important to stress that with evolving technology and the way media has changed throughout history, now more than ever news is being created and delivered at rapid rates and by anyone. However, the duty of the journalist has not changed.

Though anyone with an Internet connection can break news through social media, journalists are still tasked with the role of verifying that information. Pressure is placed on journalists to be the first outlet to break big news, but at what cost? So often news outlets will jump the gun and produce stories based on false information, as was the case with the reported death of Joe Paterno, the former Penn State football coach. Many prominent news organizations, including CBS Sports, reported Paterno’s death 12 hours before his passing, based on unverified information.

With the public’s trust in journalism at dangerously low levels, slip-ups like that only help to feed their suspicions. Even in the 21st century, when the way news is presented is constantly changing, the very fundamentals of journalism must remain in tact. Reporting accurately is crucial. News organizations are faced with making ethical decisions about when to publish information whether or not it is verified.

The authors didn’t downplay the changing world of journalism in today’s world. In fact, they presented one idea that is particularly important: “Every generation creates its own journalism.” This concept is especially important for young journalists. What will our generation create? And what has it already done?

Social media plays a major role in the scope of journalism today. There is no doubt that social media connects the masses in a way that they have not been able to perviously. In addition, it puts control in the hands of citizens to contribute to the messages being passed around.

One theme the authors suggested in the first chapter is the idea that journalism creates communities. Though the passing of news messages is the job of journalists, social media can also be used to pass around messages and, in some cases, help to create news, as was the case in the 2011 London riots. Twitter and Facebook both played a role, along with Blackberry Messenger, in helping to fuel the news.

In that instance, those with technology were able to take videos and photos to post on the Internet during the riots.

Photo from theguardian.com Michael Bowles/Rex Features

Our generation will determine where the presentation of news goes next, and with technology at our fingertips we have endless opportunities. Future journalists are faced with the task of weeding through the influences of social media and other 21st century inventions and remaining ethical through it all.

Though blogs and what has been deemed as “we media” contribute to news, the authors of the book suggest that the ethical decisions are still important, explaining that though some say otherwise, “the idea of applying judgment to the news — of trying to decide what people need and want to know to self-govern — is obsolete. On the contrary, they make the need all the greater.”

Journalists must fight through all of the content that citizen journalists are posting and hold high standards for themselves and their publications. They must give citizens the tools to make sound decisions when digesting news and remain constant in providing good, accurate journalism.