“We believe in being honest, true,
chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men…” (AOF #13) From my
early childhood, I was taught to obey these guidelines in hopes that by being
obedient to them, I would receive blessings. Personal standards are strongly
encouraged within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints so that we
won’t be swayed by evil influences in the world. In the news
media world, ethics can be looked over and personal standards sway easily under
the pressure of producing reader-worthy news. Although there are many methods
journalists use to produce news, to avoid over looking personal ethics journalists should take a
transparent approach. Being straight forward with personal standards and
opinions on certain topics not only agree with the professional ethics they are
asked to follow, but also lowers the chance of acting in a way
that would jeopardize personal beliefs.
How it all Started
From
the Acta Diurna, Rome’s first version of mass communication, to our modern day
televised news, audiences are always seeking for a common topic to gossip about.
It’s what we do! The desire to be informed about the crazy events happening in
the world becomes greater and harder to satisfy as the years go by. As society
grew and technology developed, people became desensitized to the typical news,
making a journalists job even harder to accomplish. Journalists constantly feel
the need to spice up their stories in order to please and retain their
audience. To ensure that journalists aren’t being dishonest in publication, the
Society of Professional Journalists, or SPJ, created a code of ethics. The SPJ
code of ethics are guidelines with the promise of keeping the those that
followed them within the bounds of safety. It has now become the most authentic
way of dealing with ethical issues and has produced great honest stories.
What do the Objective News Folk Think?
Journalists and
others involved in news media are hesitant to accept this new, transparent view
for many reasons. First, it can promote self-righteous arrogance. Second, lengthy
self-explanation could spiral out of control. Third, they fear that there would
be too much focus on the “why” of journalism instead of the basic who, what,
where and when.
What is true
transparency in journalism then? The journalistic nature of transparency is revealing
beliefs and opinions on a wide range of topics. In addition to this, readers
are given access and knowledge behind the method journalists use to produce
their stories. From the American Journalism Review, or AJR, an article entitled
“Too Transparent?” written by Rachel Smolkin says, “It’s healthy for news
organizations to be much more open about their decision making than they have
been in the past.” News organizations were sometimes hesitant to divulge who and
where information was coming from, so the audience felt that transparency was
the immediate option.
In this same article another example is given of
an over due report written by the New York Times about a high-up editor, Jason
Blair, who lied profusely in many of his articles. Blair had fabricated and
plagiarized a handful of his articles to gain readership. He wasn’t at the company
for much longer after they found out. The New York Times eventually came out
with an expose of Blair’s misdeeds, but the Times failed to mention why the
article was delayed for a year before it was posted.
“In this whole
forensics exercise, I’ve got one hand tied behind my back,” says a Times editor
in response to why they took so long to publish the expose. The editor feared
that the explanation of the complicated process to get the story published
would reveal “confidential” information and gave up on trying to explain any
details all together. This situation, among many others pushed audiences into
wanting to know “why?” behind what really went on in that long year. Cue transparent
journalism.
The Birth of a New View
True objectivity
had the intention of being a consistent method for testing information to make
it more transparent. Yet, according to Walter Lippman, an associate editor for
the New York World, he said, “Good intentions, or what some might call
‘honest efforts’ by journalists, were not enough.” It started off as an
effective solution to get rid of many bad habits journalists were starting to
form in order to get the juiciest story, but didn’t work. Even objectivity can
sometimes become a paradox when trying to be a truthful journalist. Finally,
transparency became it’s own category for producing news.
To give an
example, let’s say there’s a girl named Kenra. A fresh News Media graduate from
Brigham Young University. She walks into her first job as a late night
broadcast reporter, and couldn’t be more excited to get working on her first
assignment. Her producer hands her a handful of papers and the title page
reads, “Sex Tape Scandal among National Soccer Players and Thai women.” Not
only was the story disturbing, but the company had decided that in order to get
more viewers they were going to include a clip that showed blurred pictures of
the naked players in inappropriate positions with the women. Kenra was alarmed
at the sight and instinctively crumpled up the papers and threw them in the
trash. She remembered her commitment to her own code of ethics that
automatically disregarded anything that wasn’t censored to fit the needs of
young families, especially their kids.
Disheartened and a
little nauseated, Kenra thought of what could happen to her career if she said
something to her boss. With a heavy sigh, she walked towards her producer’s
office. Confronting her producer was terrifying, but in the end, he decided to
reassign the story to another journalist. Even though she didn’t change his
mind on running the story, she was morally protected and could not be blamed
for any potential negative consequences.
The Great Benefits of Transparency
A Journalists
decision to follow their own ethical standards might be the riskiest move they could
take, but there is no way to gain respect and credibility faster than by living
and portraying ethical values. Truth will always trump dishonesty in the long
run. Through transparent journalism, good ethical behavior both personally and
on a professional journalistic level can be achieved. By putting standards on
the table, a journalist can avoid the danger of violating many of the ethical
issues that happen within the news media world.
Ann curry once
said, “Journalism is an act of faith in the future.” I agree that there is a
certain amount of faith in journalism. We should dare to be who we are in all
aspects of our lives, especially in the workplace where we are publicly known. By
transparency in journalism, there will be no way to jeopardize the personal
standards for any religious, ethically sound or truthful journalist as well as
the SPJ code of ethics.
Works Cited:
Dare
to Stand Alone - Thomas S. Monson. Lds.org, Oct. 2011. Web. 06 Dec. 2015.
<https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/dare-to-stand-alone?lang=eng>.
American
Press Institute RSS.
N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2015.
<http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/journalism-essentials/bias-objectivity/lost-meaning-objectivity/>.
The
Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should
Expect. N.p.: n.p., n.d.
Print.
American
Journalism Review.
Phillip Merrill College of Journalism, n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2015.
<http://ajrarchive.org/Article.asp?id=4073>.
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