What is a journalist?
Being a journalist is more than just a job, more than being a name in the paper or a face on the screen. Journalists carry the distinct responsibility to tell the public the truth, to break the stories that would otherwise go untold, and to uphold the ethics of their profession. Journalism and the media are the connection between the happenings of the world and the public as a whole.
Democracy, in particular, depends on free journalism. For the people to make informed decisions, they must be informed, and that can only happen with an unbiased, impartial media. When news organizations and journalists report with bias, it corrupts the system and undermines the principles that journalism is built on. However, balanced journalism and media can illuminate issues and allow citizens and voters to make the decisions that a democracy requires.
As the clip above evidenced, journalists sometimes risk life and limb to bring light to horrible situations. In a heavily censored and militant area like Syria, these few international journalists on the ground are our only real way of knowing what the situation there is. The risks they take, sometimes at the cost of their own lives, emphasize journalism at it's pinnacle: reporting the truth, for the sake of the truth.
That's all I have for the moment. For another good opinion of what journalism should be, check out Journalism.org. http://www.journalism.org/resources/principles
It's an article highlighting nine key principles of respectable journalism.
Till next time,
Isaac Wright
Being a journalist is more than just a job, more than being a name in the paper or a face on the screen. Journalists carry the distinct responsibility to tell the public the truth, to break the stories that would otherwise go untold, and to uphold the ethics of their profession. Journalism and the media are the connection between the happenings of the world and the public as a whole.
Democracy, in particular, depends on free journalism. For the people to make informed decisions, they must be informed, and that can only happen with an unbiased, impartial media. When news organizations and journalists report with bias, it corrupts the system and undermines the principles that journalism is built on. However, balanced journalism and media can illuminate issues and allow citizens and voters to make the decisions that a democracy requires.
As the clip above evidenced, journalists sometimes risk life and limb to bring light to horrible situations. In a heavily censored and militant area like Syria, these few international journalists on the ground are our only real way of knowing what the situation there is. The risks they take, sometimes at the cost of their own lives, emphasize journalism at it's pinnacle: reporting the truth, for the sake of the truth.
That's all I have for the moment. For another good opinion of what journalism should be, check out Journalism.org. http://www.journalism.org/resources/principles
It's an article highlighting nine key principles of respectable journalism.
Till next time,
Isaac Wright
"Democracy, in particular, depends on free journalism. " so true. and while in theory, we have "free journalism," sometimes you feel that this is corrupted by the corporate interests that fund the machinery we rely on to access the message (e.g. cable news, print, etc.). what is packaged as free, can be biased and self serving. "fair and balanced" comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteanyway, i like your train of thought and direction here. great stuff isaac!