Ethics and Journalism
There were days when journalism was solely for the print media and journalists were revered for their ethics and integrity. The article will carry their name undersigned and it is read by the mass. The journalists will be held responsible for any kind of discrepancy with the article. The journalist needs to be ethical and must take care of the honesty of the content and the pretext. This was the main advantage of journalism during the print media era.
Even the slightest of twisted truth can prove fatal to the career and future of the news media. One needs to double check facts and ensure that the content is validated. Getting the story out is the ultimate aim of any journalists. But in the scuttle one must not do a hasty job of publishing an unethical article.
Find Out More About : How Ethical Journalism Can Boost Readership
Importance of Responsible Journalism
Journalists have a responsibility towards the society to reflect the exact, current status of the society so people are aware. They need to provide facts in an honest and balanced way. They must stay clear of voicing their opinion and in turn voice people’s concern over the situation. It is surely a business of finding all the weaknesses in others, and this had to be done ethically as it could impact society. Journalists are powerful influencers. Society mostly believes whatever is being said and written. This has to be taken into consideration as you report. The facts have to be objective and easy for all to understand.
To get sensational news, journalists must never present rumours and unwarranted speculations. There could be news media who will gain good interest with fake news and rumours, but that is short lived. People will finally realise the truth and go for the genuine news. Creating guidelines may be a thankless task but this process will up the bar for ethical journalism. As consumers have rights to facts that are correct, guidelines hold good for the future of journalism. If you have proved your mettle, people will always wait for your version of the news.
Challenges of Digital Journalism
Technology has paved the way to different forms of media through which content or news can be published. This is new age digital journalism. It is in the form of television, websites, apps, blogs, feeds and more. In a nutshell, anybody can be a journalist who is capable of providing both ethical and unethical content. There are no checkpoints or any guidelines to find the quality of the content except for the conscience.
It is challenging to identify real content and propaganda of vested minds. Unethical content is mostly weak without any facts to substantiate the content. In this age where the Internet is on everyone’s fingertips it is crucial that people be aware of the impact of publishing unethical content. Dumb and unreliable news are treated as trash. The consumers now think critically to identify what is right and wrong. Consumers crave for facts that are credible.
