Ethical Issues in Journalism

Outside of the political spectrum, there is another group of organizations that have perhaps and even stronger grasp on the media than media regulators themselves. The incredibly complex and well organized drug cartels that base themselves mostly in northern Mexico and along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico are in many ways the most influential organizations in the nation’s media. As mentioned earlier, Mexican citizens were granted freedom of the press in the 1857 Federal Constitution giving them expressional rights that closely resembled the United States’ on paper. However, as the cartels ran rampant throughout the country some indirect restrictions were put on these rights. The cartels employ ruthless violence and torture in order to punish those who oppose them, including journalists and reporters who attempt to portray them in a negative light. Over the past decade “there have been ‘172 attacks on press freedom, including nine journalists and two media workers killed’” (Hernandez-Garcia 2012). As a result, anyone reporting on the drug wars is essentially risking his or her own life; a risk the majority of reporters are not willing to take. The fear of being found and captured by the cartel is enough to cause a chilling effect among reporters and even stop some news outlets from reporting on the cartel’s actions at all. That’s not to say that news of the cartels’ actions doesn’t get released to the public. Lepe summarized the media portrayals of the cartel as such:

The purpose of this report is to analyse journalism practices employed in newspaper reporting across different outlets and to analyse if the practice was in line with the media

Journalists must now be much more careful with their work, and must strictly follow the regulations put in place or suffer the consequences.

Objectivity is an important factor in the world of journalism. Some journalist falls short of objectivity while others seem may seem to contain too much of it, abandoning the artistry of persuasion. Today we live in a world where our own president claims the mainstream news outlets publish "fake news. " It leaves us to wonder whether some factors affect the journalists' reporting. Whether this is ethically correct is also something to ask ourselves.

Opposed to the author’s main points, the argument can be made that reporters have the job of telling the truth, which represents

Though journalists main goal is to expose the whole truth, to do this they must be open on their methods of acquiring information. With the use of transparency in news articles, the journalists do just this. One major point in the

A great deal of interest of the countless allegations of bias has been a heated topic today in the dominant media. A variety of watchdog groups have generated over the years to attempt to find the facts behind bias facts, accuracy, fairness and balance. It is extremely important in journalism to always be accurate, fair, and have a consistent balance. If an editor falls into the biases and does not not follow the previous three essential qualities stated, one may get himself or herself into serious legal trouble and/or possibly let go from his or her job.

In our evolving world, it is difficult to differentiate the truth with the constant pour of information It is a journalist's job to report the truth and to be sure that they have reliable information. A journalist must be successful in performing fast-checking before they can validate a story. Credibility is the backbone on journalism, and once it is destroyed it can be difficult to regain. It is also vital that journalists remain free from faction. When journalists break the obligations of journalism they are subject to criticism and distrust of the public. It becomes an issue when journalists jeopardize the public's ability to be free and

Journalists really do not get any benefit or give any benefit to our country by

Until the 1980s, the control of the media was in the hands of the national government. From then, the control shifted to private outlets and by the 1990’s, there were more than fifty multinational companies who controlled it (“Mass Media”). Today, only about six major companies control the larger fraction of media in America (Williams, Par. 1). Norman Solomon wrote in the New Political Science Journal that most reporters and editors work for just a few huge companies. These journalists and editors are on the payroll for “mega-media institutions”, of which, only about six exist (Solomon 297). How much will the public learn if these companies generally control the output of information?

Journalists around the world are under attack. Although journalism seems as a pretty safe and stable career there are several journalists that have sacrificed their lives to uncover the truth.

The news shapers are journalistic institutions, individual journalist, and the elites. To begin journalist institutions and individual journalist are connected due to the fact that journalist working at certain institutions embody their institutions norms and viewpoints. Media bias flows from the minds of journalist and within the process of journalistic institutions. Just as journalist institutions influence individual journalist elites in our society influence journalist institutions.

Nowadays journalists have the responsibility to report facts as accurately, objectively, and disinterestedly as is humanly possible. ‘’The, honest, self-disciplined, well-trained reporter seeks to be a propagandist for nothing but the truth’’ (Casey, 1944b).

The duty of journalists is to tell the truth. Journalism means you go back to the actual facts, you look at the documents, you discover what the record is, and you report it that way. — Chomsky 2008

Undoubtedly, impartiality in journalism is of the most disputable questions among media experts from all over the world. In times when the power of new media is increasing from day to day, it is really important to realize which influence can journalists have on society’s opinion. People share news extremely fast nowadays – they can do this just with one click within seconds. Information became a virus. Such a tendency raises a responsibility which author has – because there is always a feedback. And if you accidentally do something wrong, or post unchecked information, or blame somebody without strong proofs, people will write you back. Or, which is worse, they will share your article with negative comments among all their friends in social networks – and this will seriously damage your reputation. That is why responsibility is so important in journalism. So is impartiality. But is it achievable, especially by an individual journalist? Generally, yes.