The Ethics Of Citizen Journalism And Traditional Media

News organizations that report on stories in a fair, balanced and ethical manner are essential to the functionality of this nation. A citizen’s ability to make well-informed decisions hinges on a news organization’s ability to relay the most accurate information regarding the state of the nation, the changing condition of communities, and adjustments in the government. Journalism is no longer a one-sided conversation. Journalism is an interactive process that allows for readers and viewers to create a dialogue with journalists by utilizing mediums such as social networking sites and comment sections. Audiences have a say in what stories get reported and how news stories are presented to the masses. When news organizations fail to cover all

Walter Williams, the founder of the University of Missouri’s Journalism School, believed that unless journalists were trained as professionals, they would never earn the public’s trust. Journalists needed to be held accountable professionally and personally in order for the profession to endure. In 1914, Williams wrote the Journalist’s creed. The creed was an affirmation of the ethics of journalism. Although the creed still is the clearest definition of the principles, standards, and values of journalists, the world is changing, and that includes journalism.

Clay Shirky who wrote Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable (1993) argues that society doesn’t need newspapers society needs journalism to save society. Shirky supports this argument by giving a historical background to the problems newspapers face and how the problems have developed over time and the solutions society has came up with. The blogger concludes that in order for journalism to go farther new models must be created in place of past molds. Shirky directs this blog toward the current and future generations in attempt to motivate new models and methods of journalism.

There is no denying that news media is big business. The complete coverage of stories and investigative reports are certainly at risk with the rise of media as a business, rather than strictly a service to the public. Over the past few years, there have been a number of cases where television stations or news publications have killed news stories or forced reporters to slant stories due to pressure from advertisers or those in power at the news. This paper will attempt to examine the relationship between social responsibility and news editors, and apply ethical theories to explain what should and can be done. Should editors have the power to kill or slant stories,

In today’s day and age, mass media has completely changed the way in which we consume news. The truthfulness of the millions of blogs and web pages makes it hard to trust what is true and what is not. Newspapers are often an overlooked form of news, which is surprising considering that it is a accurate, curated source of media. What sets newspapers apart from all the countless blogs and web pages is the set of ethics that the reporters and editors are required to follow. In State of Play Cal McCaffrey, a reporter for the Washington Globe, did not act in accordance to the code of ethics. McCaffrey knowingly broke the law whilst trespassing, clearly knew McCaffrey had a conflict of interest, and unethically recorded someone while falsely promising anonymity.

Citizen journalism is essential to the discovery and cover of what

In my opinion, Billionaires’ Tea Party does not meet the journalistic norms of objectivity and separation of reporting from advocacy. The producers of this movie have a clear agenda, which is to expose the Tea Party as an organization full of ill-informed and extremely biased Americans who are hypnotized by some of America’s wealthiest businessmen into believing that liberals in American government are seeking to limit their constitutional rights. The director inserts his own political bias into the film, asserting that “most people, myself included, are naturally suspicious of government”. Toward the end of the film, the director states “my only message to them is to be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.” The director clearly states his purpose for producing the film, and does not film this documentary from a third-person perspective. The director defies the norms of objectivity not through his investigative work, such as going undercover at a rally, but by explicitly stating his suspicion.

Above all, a journalist’s job is to seek the truth, and report it to the public. Occasionally a journalist will act deceptively in pursuit of that truth, causing for some of the most famous cases of undercover journalism—see Nellie Bly and PrimeTime Live—as well as the most infamous—James O’Keefe (Marx). When discussing undercover journalism, we must pose the question: can undercover journalism also be ethical journalism? And, regardless of the previous answer, is it ever justified? I will address both of these questions through the analysis of Shane Bauer’s 2016 Mother Jones’ piece on private prisons.

Ans: I think that citizen journalism will not eventually replace newspapers but instead supplement them as they can’t produce news stories on their own but instead comment on news stories that is already been produced by professional journalist.

With all of the new platforms of media, our world is evolving faster than ever. New technology allows us to have fast and easy access to breaking news. The challenging task for journalists

However, the article does explore an opposing angle of citizen journalism in-depth where risks of phony photography are high. Undoubtedly, the business of news reporting will always exist, but does citizen journalism hinder the legitimacy of news by providing raw-footage rather than footage that is edited for accuracy? Has photojournalism turned into a commodity due to the ease at which photos and videos can now be captured? Or are we living in a digital age where citizens don’t require news channels to content curate anymore because raw-footage will be accessed through social media platforms anyway? These are questions that can only be answered with a deeper insight into the emergence of citizen-centered

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

To wholly have a grasp on how this new founded approach to journalism has changed alongside technology—as well as understanding the dangers such openness brings forth—one has to understand what exactly those changes are. Primarily, those that are writing for the sake of offering information have, whether willingly or not, fed into the usage of social media as it has become a centralized method of distribution that is relatively inescapable with the current times. As such those framing the news for the masses find an authentic avenue to stay in contact via social media that has benefits ranging from, “its extraordinary newsgathering potential; its potential as a new tool to engage the audience; and as a way of distributing our news” (Eltringham, 2012), all of which are deeply different from the presentation of reporting that occurred during earlier eras. Days of strongly structured instances of journalism that could not travel with such speed have been replaced as, “social media has trashed many of the foundations on

In this era, the popularity of citizen journalism has spread throughout all over the world. As a matter of fact, more and more people are starting to take benefit of content publishers. This can be seen in Television news, such as winter snow photos, traffic accidents or local sporting events. However, it leaves a question, what exactly is news anyway? What do you need to be a citizen journalist? What is its impact on today's fast-paced society? Basically, a lot of people think this is a great thing and it can be a good tool for promoting interaction between the media community and the community. There are pros and cons of citizen journalism, we need to face this issue critically and dialectically (Techopedia, 2017). On the one hand, citizen journalism has some benefits that professional journalism can not provide. Firstly, comparing with professional journalism, citizen journalism provides a wider range of news and fills the gaps in mainstream media. The main body of the dissemination of citizen journalism is ordinary citizens rather than professional journalists or professional media. People can through the Facebook, microblog,Twitter to publish news which happened around their life. Delicacy, beautiful scenery, sports events, entertainments, political commentary can be seen in Weibo, Twitter, Facebook and so on. Secondly, citizen journalism could stimulate the interest of audience. Most audiences enjoy reading