The world is a hectic mess today. News is happening all around us, and the only source that acts as a filter between the chaos and ourselves is the media. The media, journalists especially, must hold upon themselves a great responsibility when they are acting as this filtering apparatus between the ordered and unordered. But is that the only thing journalism does: make sense of the news? No, it does much more than that. Good journalism is working, with help from the citizenry, to create an enlightened Republic filled with citizens who will be well informed of the events which intersect their lives. There are a number of measures, though, that journalists must take before they can go from simply making sense of the news to creating an enlightened Republic.
At the core of any republic is its citizens. They are also those to whom journalists must first be loyal (Kovach and Rosenstiel 52). What then does this mean? How are journalists supposed to make citizens their number one loyalty? The First Amendment allows the press a certain freedom from government control. This is because, as Justice Black writes, journalists were “to serve the governed, not the governors” (New York Times Co. v. United States). In this aspect, journalists act as servants to the citizenry. However, it could be argued that their paychecks come from certain companies, and perhaps their loyalties go first to their jobs and not the citizens. Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel argue against this by pointing out that "people who gather news are not like the employees of other companies. They have a social obligation that at times overrides their employers' immediate interests, and yet this obligation is the source of their employers' financial success" (53). Kovach and...
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...better, more enlightened Republic. Justice Stewart writes in New York Times Co. v. United States that "without an informed and free press there cannot be an enlightened people." and, it should be noted, without an informed and free speaking society there cannot be an enlightened press. The process is reciprocal and it is going in an upwards spiral towards greater truth. Hopefully this spiral will not act as a Tower of Babel of sorts where absolute truth is ultimately lost only after it is finally found and achieved. However, this outcome is highly doubtful: a truly enlightened people will find one way or another to stabilize their tower.
Works Cited
Kovach, Bill, and Tom Rosenstiel. The Elements of Journalism. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2007.
Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo, 418 U.S. 241 (1974).
New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971).
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.
In “Reporting the News” by George C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry, the main idea is how the media determines what to air, where to get said stories that will air, how the media presents the news, and the medias effect on the general public. “Reporting The News” is a very strong and detailed article. The authors’ purpose is to inform the readers of what goes on in the news media. This can be inferred by the authors’ tone. The authors’ overall tone is critical of the topics that are covered. The tone can be determined by the authors’ strong use of transitions, specific examples, and phrases or words that indicate analysis. To summarize, first, the authors’ indicate that the media chooses its stories that will air
Media professionals have a responsibility to report accurate and comprehensive information, not just what amuses audiences and garner ratings. In his legendary speech “Wires and Lights in a Box,” Edward R. Murrow discussed the power of media and the responsibility of journalist to accurately depict information. To continued reporting poorly constructed media presentations or messages that only serve as rating boosters will be the down fall of society, and history will be there to witness it. Media conglomerates have to power to revolutionize the kinds of information the audience receives. If two or three media outlets would make it a point to relese information that serves the greater good instead of cooperate sponsors bottom-line, the world
In America we value the freedom of the press. The press is the one place where most Americans go to get educated on issues facing their community, state, and most of all nation. Everyone knows that the media plays a major role in Americans' lives; however their role of gatekeeper is not completely understood. The press decides which issues to report and how to report them. In order to improve the nation and world, the media should present their unbiased findings to allow people to make up their own minds. However, this is not the case. The media often shows its bias. Their widespread exposure enables them to communicate their ideas to the public, regardless of the public's responsiveness. The elections of officials for the federal government during the late 20th century serve as prime examples of their bias. An analysis of surveys, media delivery, and reporter's testimonies, I have found that the media is actually more out of touch with mainstream America than the politicians they cover.
The author provides a rough timeline of the objective norm emerging in American journalism, and explains the inner origin of these co...
Rivers, William L., and Alison R. Work. Writing for the Media. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Pub., 1988. Print.
Pbs.org. 2003. NewsHour Extra: Pros and Cons of Embedded Journalism -- March 27, 2003. [online] Available at: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june03/embed_3-27.html [Accessed: 10 Nov 2013].
The article “Why Americans Hate the Media” takes a look at how the media has taken their journalistic duties to another level that does not promote the ideas and questions that the American citizens whom the journalist report to are concerned about. The media has found a way to keep their ratings and the hype of politics alive by sensationalizing hot-bed issues. In the article “Why Americans Hate the Media” written by James Fallows it states that “Perhaps the public has good reason to think that the media’s self-aggrandizement gets in the way of solving the countries real problems” (Fallows) which leads to the fact that, although the media knows that they are skipping over the American citizens view and sending their own message, but somehow
In conclusion the freedom of speech and freedom of press is completely attained when the journalism is impartial towards the politicians and corporates. The stand that wikileaks took to educate people of what governments are doing in a disguise to protect themselves disregarding the interests of people who elect them. The essay also portrays the use of advanced technology which will enable its user to view and share information creating the social awareness of what the government is hiding from its people which can be discussed and debated on the whole and a justified outcome can be attained. Thus we can exclaim that internet which is humongous source of all kinds of information can be the new fourth estate where every aspect has a global approach.
Kovach and Rosenstiel (2007) outline several common indicators for good journalism in their book The Elements of Journalism. The first of which is the truth. In order for the public to be able to make a good decision regarding any given topic, the journalist must put forth reliable and accurate facts. The process of “journalistic truth” starts with professional discipline of gathering and verification of facts (Kovach et al., 2007). Then a good journalist will attempt to convey this fair and reliable account of their meaning which would also be subject to future investigating. Transparency is important in good journalism allowing the reader to form their own conclusions as it pertains to any given event or set of circumstances. Regardless of a corporation which would have to answer to its shareholders, publishers of journals ultimately are to show allegiance to citizens always seeking to put public interest ahead of their own self-interests. It is with this that I offer this concern regarding the recent journalism effort put forth in the Villa Grove News over the past few months.
... small media reforms (like public journalism) will be enough to reduce the commercial and corporate imperatives driving our existing media systems (Hackett and Zhao, 1998, p. 235). Instead, a fundamental reform of the entire system is needed, together with a wider institutional reform of the very structures the media systems work within, our democracies. This will be a difficult task, due to powerful vested interests benefiting from the status quo, including media, political and economic elites. Reforms will need to be driven by campaigns mobilising public support across the political spectrum, to enable the citizens of the world to have a media system that works to strengthen democratic principles as opposed to undermining them. This task is challenging, but it will become easier once people begin to understand the media’s role in policymaking within our democracies.
The first is the crisis of viability. The chance of success in the journalism in the mainstream is approaching a decline due to the transformations in technologies and new access to multiple sources of information. The second is a crisis in civic adequacy. The contributions of journalism to citizenship and democracy have begun to shift and this shift has caused a question of the relevancy of journalism to democratic processes. In a democratic society journalism plays the role of the government watchdog. The effectiveness of society’s watchdog is now being challenged and in turn alternating the structure of the current democratic society. Many critical theorists of the press during the beginning of the 20th century were concerned with finding appropriate forms of public regulation of the press and journalism to ensure that journalists are writing “news and information about public affairs which sustains and nurtures citizen information, understanding and engagement and thereby a democratic polity” (Cushion and Franklin, 2015: 75) (Dahlgren, Splichal 2016). Journalism is a political entity that influences and informs the public. It is meant to work as a source of public information that helps and does not hinder the general public specifically in political processes. The article
The history of communication is a long and glorious story from the primitive carvings of ancient peoples to the flat bed press, the web perfecting press to the high speed presses of today that churn out news for the maintenance of the democracy. The United States has been dependent on accurate information ever since the inception of this great nation. Information made men free and challenged all those who wished to suppress the news to live up to the democratic ideals upon which this nation was founded. In fact information is so important to this democracy that the Bill of Rights begins with the axiom of a free press. In countless countries throughout the world where fledgling democracies have attempted to flourish, those that would suppress freedom of speech, attack newspaper offices first because it is the intrepid newspaper reporters and editors who bring the news to the people. Now more than ever these harbingers of truth need to be heard.
“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.
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. Although the above emphasize the predicament at the heart of ...