Since 1992, the beginning of the many conflicts in Syria, at least 54 reporters have lost their lives, as recently stated by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). In just this year alone, a total of 21 have been killed. However, there is some discrepancy in the exact number of deaths collected by different associations. Reporters Without Borders (RWB) puts the figures more around 120, just in the past 3 years. This is because of the ambiguous characterization of a journalist.
Some of the news from Syria is being gathered by citizen journalists, or amateurs. The threat of abduction or even death is discouraging international reporters from entering the country, leaving the work to the local Syrians. So whether it was 54 or 120 "journalists", all depends on what really constitutes a journalist.
Professional journalists are definitely unlike your average person. They are trained to report all sides of an issue without favoritism or bias. Serving the people and no one else is what they're qualified to do. Experienced journalists carry the responsibility to tell the truth about what is happening in the world.
New technology, such as social media, along with the classic cellular device, has made citizen journalism more available to people all around the world. Due to the accessibility of these tools, the general public can often report breaking news more quickly than traditional media reporters.
Unfortunately, even experienced reporters can't always be there at the crucial time when something unexpected happens. That's when citizen journalists come into play. Ordinary people can help alert the media to spontaneous events, along with providing information and visual documentation. Social media assists in thi...
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...l provided by citizens, has to be cautious as to not accidentally endorse and promote propaganda.
Before anything written by professional journalists can go to print or broadcast, an entire staff of editors have to check and revise it for accuracy, grammar, clarity, consistency, and readability. Thus, good journalists, such as those working for The New York Times, are able to earn the trust of their colleagues, superiors, and especially their publics. They've earned the right to investigate, and report the facts to the world.
But in the grand scheme of things, maybe we shouldn't be trying to figure out who exactly is a journalist and resist the temptation to restrict our definition of journalism. Everyone should just accept that there is some bad journalism out there, but also acknowledge that there are many different ways to effectively report the news.
New technology has fuelled the expansion with the growth of phone apps, social media formats, smartphones able to capture video and upload instantly onto the web. The public is now recording, documenting, sharing and viewing events as they happen, often before professional journalist or reporters. Technology allows people to view major events in real time anywhere in the world, creating a ‘global village’ in which everyone is connected (McLuhan 1964; cited in Giddens 2013). However, the mass medias of television, radio and newspapers both in print and online, continue to be the mediums the public accesses the news and events on a local, national and international
...emain respectable in the journalistic field, it is imperative to abide by all constitutional laws and ethical values.
BACKGROUND: In March of 2011, the unrest in Syria was just beginning, with protests g...
It is not uncommon to hear people complaining about what they hear on the news. Everyone knows it and the media themselves knows it as well. Some of the most renowned journalists have even covered the the media’s issues in detail. Biased news outlets have flooded everyday news. We find that journalism’s greatest problems lie in the media’s inability for unbiased reporting, the tendency to use the ignorance of their audience to create a story, and their struggles to maintain relevance.
Lets take a look at natural disasters, social media helps spread knowledge about events. Not everyone watches the news, and I am sure that those people who don’t watch news have some type of social media. Natural disasters are important and social media helps us be aware of our surrounds where ever we may be. Newspapers can only do so much and they take time to print and reach everyone. In critical circumstances newspapers needs to spread fast even cross borders, however social media ends up doing exactly
The introduction of the internet to modern society has brought about a new age of information relation. Since there is no longer a need to wait until the next print day, news from all over the world is available at a person’s fingertips within hours or even minutes of the event. With this advent of such easily accessible information, new problems for the news media have also arisen. Aside from potentially losing good economic standing because newspapers are no longer being purchased in the quantities they used to be, the credibility of the information itself is also put into question. No one would argue that credibility of news sources is unimportant, but there is a discrepancy in what takes precedence; economy and speed or getting the information out correctly at the first publishing by taking the time to make sure all facts are checked. The importance of having a system of checks on all information submitted is paramount. People trust what they read and believe it to be so without always questioning. If all information were to not be checked thoroughly, there would be instances where people read an article only for information included to be wrong and they go on believing such information. This can be very dangerous as misinformed people make misinformed decisions. With an increase in errors being made by citizen bloggers and even major publications, many are worried that journalistic ethics and credibility in the news media are being sacrificed in order to maintain swiftness in the news circuit and to retain personal profits. Though getting information to the masses quickly is a major part of the media’s importance, this should not mean that the credibility of that information being presented should be sacrificed for it...
Public journalism has changed much during its existence. Papers are striving to actively involve readers in the news development. It goes beyond telling the news to embrace a broader mission of improving the quality of public life. The American style of journalism is based on objectivity and separates us from the bias found in most European partisan papers. American journalism is becoming too vigilant in being objective that the dedication to investigating stories tends to be missing in the writing. Public journalism works to incorporate concepts from partisan and objective writing to increase the flow of information and improve the quality of public life.
The window to the world can be covered by a newspaper,” this quote by Polish writer Stanislaw Lec sums up the problem with the news media. It is the job of the news media to provide the public with news events happening around the world. Without these news reports, people would be oblivious to what is going on around them. Our lives rest in the media's hands, and they are fully aware of this. The news is a very competitive business, and because of this what gets reported is not necessarily what the story is. Since there are different journalists reporting on the same events, each newspaper and newscast has its own way and style of reporting. They also have different gate keeping processes that make them unique. They may do anything to get the story, no matter whose lives they destroy. Criticizing the news has become increasingly popular recently due to the fact that the media has shifted from a positive to a negative view in the public's eyes.
In extreme situations, journalists choose the angle they can find, tick the boxes to the news worthiness, but never having a stand. According to Kempf, journalists fulfill certain criteria of newsworthiness and fake empirical evidence, which implements propaganda and in the journalists’ defense “that it did not matter the pictures were faked since they only showed what people already ‘knew’ and since they served the goal of opening the eyes of the public” (Kempf 2002, p. 60). Various examples from the War on Terror, where journalists and reporters would fake evidence just to gain more audiences but examples like this could elevate the issues, and it is as if this responsibility of Journalism of Attachment only adds fuel to the fire and this is done in the name of peace (Kempf 2002).
Remaining unbiased and transparent are two values that all journalist try to leave by. With that being said many surveys have shown that journalism is one of the least trusted profession. The lack of trust in journalist can be in part explained by unethical practices. In the very first day of journalism school, students are taught that they must refrain from including personal bias from any piece that they produce. However, while doing so it can provide ethical problems. Specifically defamation to a specific group. This can be done because by trying to provide both sides in a story you can unintentionally make a specific group of people look negative to the public eye.
To become a journalist one must be ready for late nights, irregular hours, and heartbreak. Being a journalist isn’t easy. So much can happen in a few seconds, and it’s almost like watching a soap opera. Many people think that being a journalist involves writing a small story and interviewing one or two people, but that’s not the case. Journalists have staggering deadlines to meet and at any time could be thrown into the most dangerous situations. It sounds like a hectic lifestyle, but the fact that they get to travel all over the world and meet so many different people makes it all worth the while.
...hat will help you build your journalistic toolkit. I have talked a lot about social media in several of journalism classes and have learned a lot about it, so I thought it would be fun to inject my thoughts behind it in relation to how journalists’ can and should use it for their benefit.
In an opinion article by the Los Angeles Times, readers write letters to the editorial. The reader talks about their distain for the fake news that has been going around recently. They that journalists report fake and misleading stories for personal profit. People today mostly get their news from the internet, some people are more critical on the new stories they read, whereas others are gullible and will believe anything they read. The reader say that a real journalist wouldn’t make up click-bait stories, and would instead be more preoccupied with doing research and reporting the facts. They even compare reporting fake news to shouting “fire” in a crowd (Bramen).
Journalism is type of writing that investigates and includes lots of research of good and bad stories and some events. Journalists tend to write news stories that people should know about and haven’t already heard. Journalism comes in different categories; some are reporters, writers, editors, and photographers. People who tend to like journalism are those who love language and enjoying writing and reading, are called journalist; they work as reporters at newspapers, magazines, websites, TV stations, and radio stations. Good journalists love to read and want to find out what is going on around them and the world. They write short and long stories as they must write true stories. Journalists write stories that are from real people and they make the stories real too. People are not interested in reading newspapers now as much as they used to long time ago. These days’ people carry news on their iPods, cell phones, laptops, and more. They can even watch them on TV. A long time ago people knew the news through newspapers or the rich would have a radio which was the only way to know what is going in the world, but now news are everywhere.
McLoed and Hawley (as cited in Wilson, 1995) elucidated appropriately, "a recurrent journalistic controversy has involved the question whether journalism is a true profession or merely a craft." Sparked primarily by Lippmann and Dewey, extending into the age of the penny press (mid 1980s) and later, the attempt to commercialise the news (late 1980s) to our present era, there has existed a contentious debate on journalism being distinguished as a profession (Wilson, 1995). Encapsulated in a democratic homeland since the advent of time, media systems are habitually acclaimed as the “fourth power,” with its journalists often hailed as the “watch-dogs” of such a society. Lending itself to act as ‘gatekeeper’ for the wider society and performing the traditional role of journalism, the media (overall) exist as powerful “instruments of knowledge” that perform the function of providing information to the masses in a public sphere, where issues may be discussed, justified and contested (Scannell, 1995, p. 17). Evidently, media workers play a pivotal role in our society; however, their status in the realm of professions is not definite.