Essay On Dangers Of Journalism

1245 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Responsibilities of news media

Tom Stoppard, the Czech playwright, once said: “I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon.” According to The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Journalism is a field where journalists work hard to report and transmit news to an audience. The transmission process is done through print (newspapers, magazines and books), broadcast (radio and television) and online (blogs, social networks...) media. This seems a very simple and easy job however journalism is not a safe and secure domain to work in; journalists may face different dangers throughout their working life.

The first reason why journalism is dangerous is because journalists might be killed because of their work or identity. Statistical analysis shows, that the highest percentages of killed journalists, were working on corruption (20%), war (36%) or political (44%) topics. However the same statistics show, that the medium with higher percentage of victims is printed media (51%), and males (93%) are mainly the ones who suffer from this tragedy. When asking about the way and the people behind the death of those journalists, numbers showed that 67% of the victims were murdered, which means this act was intended and there is someone behind it. The most suspected sources in these cases are government officials (23%) and political groups (30%). One of the victims is Chauncey Bailey. According to cleveland.com he was a reporter, working on that time on a short article about the bankruptcy that was said to be caused by a Black Muslim cult; Yusuf Bey IV. Bailey was shot by a masked man in august 2007in Oakland because of the subject of his article and the murder was done by the men of Yusuf Bey IV ...

... middle of paper ...

...n she used in her article.

Journalists around the world face a big number of dangers while working on a particular topic or in a defined place or country. Through history, a lot of journalists were killed, kidnapped or went missing and threatened or jailed. All these terroristic acts have a main purpose: to kill the truth and dominate the people. However the voice of the truth is so strong that it can’t be shut down. ‘Freedom of the press’ is one of the most crucial global issues nowadays and people should decode critically the messages they are receiving and the news they are getting about harmed journalists in order to understand where it is suppressed. In the mind of every journalist and citizen one question is being formed: is the press in the 21st century as free as we think it is or there is people modelling the content we get for their own benefit?

Show More
Related

  • First Amendment Rights, Privacy and the Paparazzi

    666 Words  | 2 Pages

    The rights of paparazzi journalists must be protected to prevent the slow erosion of the rights of all journalists. If we allow the paparazzi to be used as a scapegoat and to be persecuted and regulated it will not be long until the next most radical fringe group of journalists come under fire. This cycle will eventually l...

    Read More

  • Analysis of Janet Malcom´s The Journalist and the Murderer

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    Self-motivation and determination are two of the main ideals of being journalist. If a journalist does not have the desire to find and report a story, he has no career. A journalist depends on finding the facts, getting to the bottom of the story and reporting to the public, whether it’s positive or negative. Janet Malcom states in the book The Journalist and the Murderer, “Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible.” (Malcolm, 3) Her starting words speak volumes about “the Journalist and the Murderer” and the lessons that can be learned.

    Read More

  • The Press' Social and Political Role in Siebert, Peterson, and Schramm’s Four Theories of the Press

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    Siebert, Peterson, and Schramm’s “Four Theories of the Press” argue that “the press always takes on the form and coloration of the social and political structures within which it operates” (p. 1). The book supports this argument by discussing authoritarian, libertarian, social responsibility, and Soviet-totalitarian theories of the press.

    Read More

  • Not for Publication Chris Masters- Expository analysis

    1994 Words  | 4 Pages

    Chris Master incorporates the ‘duty of journalists [as] to reshape information and get that information to the public’, while this is important and periodically essential, it is his broad knowledge tells us that ‘the best journalism is the journalism to challenge the orthodox, respectfully challenge the public opinion and occasionally deliver bad news’(pg 5). While this is almost evident in Masters’ book, but the fact he did not deliver these stories that seem perfectly fit for ‘today’s journalism’ he attains a kind of benevolence, and consideration for his subjects. As seen in his anonymity, which shows the reader how it is not worth the social and media torment of the journalistic process. Quite powerfully he delivers the calming words that many of us already know, perhaps by our own nature or experience: ‘In order for there to be good journalism, journalists need to find a balance between what they want to present and what the public wants’.

    Read More

  • Summary: Why Journalists Have An Obligation To Challenge Power By Jorge Ramos

    502 Words  | 2 Pages

    In April of 2017, Jorge Ramos gave a TED talk titled, “Why Journalists Have an Obligation to Challenge Power.” Ramos is an immigrant and journalist who introduces the idea that the responsibility and purpose of journalism is to oppose those

    Read More

  • Edward R. Murrow and Changing the Face of Communication

    2016 Words  | 5 Pages

    "Journalism : Britannica Online Encyclopedia." Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. .

    Read More

  • The Ethics of “Outing”

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    The liberty that journalist possess is also taken into account. Reporters have a duty to report the news. But they also must consider others. And even though Forbes is now deceased, he is still a victim. Any article published about h...

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Religion In Society

    1253 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to the article, twenty years ago an Algerian journalist, Tahar Djaout, the founder of the independent weekly ruptures left his home and walked to his car and was eventually shot dead. The individual was shot dead just because of information he provided to society. From this we can conclude that religious journalisms are not safe in society. As stated in the article, “In the following two decades, hundreds of local and international reporters have been targeted by violence in the name of religious faith. The attacks have had a chilling effect on the coverage of religion and the many issues and conflicts that surround it. Many editors think twice before sending reporters to regions where religious extremists could abduct or kill them”. Journalist are not able to freely express their idea, beliefs and factual evidence on paper due to the extremist who are out to target religion journalists. This provides information that the media is not always the wrong one. Society can also be as screwed up as the media is. The journalists risk their lives to provide society with factual information. In return they can possible lose their life due to an extremist who does not agree with their information. The article also stated, “Journalists should be free to cover religion without intimidation," Aidan White, director of the Ethical Journalism Network at the Global Editors Network, told CPJ. "Their decisions should not be determined by their fear of violence or prosecution but by their professional and ethical judgment”. The press in religious journalism is not safe at all. I believe that since this occurs a lot where journalist is being attacked, the United States should at lease proposed a law to protect certain journalist. Once the journalist is providing factual information they should be

    Read More

  • How Did Henry Thompson Impact The World Of Journalism

    509 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Journalism can never be silent: That is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.” -Henry Anatole Grunwald

    Read More

  • Media Power and Media Bias

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... and I believe journalists are well aware of this. A quote also found in Gunter’s book supports these ideas: “News tells ‘stories’ about events thus embracing a notion of ‘performance’” (Morin, 1976) (Gunter 38). Most importantly, we need honest, accurate, ethical, and independent journalists because reliability and the factualness of news is not often or not always considered or even thought about by a handful of viewers. If the audience has become immune to accepting the first piece of news thrown in their faces, then the only ones that will actually have the power to pick out the truth are journalists. It is their duty.

    Read More

  • Ethics in Journalism

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    she effectively remain a credible journalist while still holding her vow to help those "trapped in

    Read More

  • Journalism Of Attachment Essay

    1077 Words  | 3 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • A Career in Journalism

    1397 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Future of Responsible Journalism

    1146 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Power is the ability to define reality and to have other people respond to your definition as if it were their own (Nobles).” People fail to see responsible journalism as a crisis because it is so convenient to have news media make up your mind for you. The foundation of our personal philosophies stems from irresponsible journalism through the major news sources we consume, the exposure to less responsible entertainment, and the biased reporting enforcing negative stereotypes.

    Read More

  • Is Journalism a Profession?

    2831 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Essay On Dangers Of Journalism

Open Document