Journalism, ideally is supposed to serve the public interest through fair and honest news coverage. Journalism is about presenting information in an objective way and that constitutes the core purpose of journalism.
Elements of good journalism
• Providing information that the public needs to know.
Many publications are devoted solely to information that the public wants to know; fashion and celebrity gossip magazines are good examples of this. Ideally, however, journalists strive to write less sensational stories because they are important for readers to know about. Code of Ethics emphasizes that good news judgment includes publishing stories because "the people must be well informed in order to make decisions regarding their lives, and their local and national communities."
• Giving a fair and truthful account of news. There is a great deal of talk about bias in the media. Many journalists believe that if a publication is being criticized for being too liberal by some and too conservative by others, it is doing a good job. On its Web site, the Associated Press defines fair and truthful as "reliability and objectivity with reports that are accurate, balanced and informed."
• Spurring people to action. Swanson said journalism is a service-oriented profession because journalism "isn't just about providing raw information. It's telling them how to use it to improve their lives and inspiring them to want to."
• Emphasizing the importance of free speech. Journalists define freedom of speech and of the press in very broad terms. Many journalists have an absolutist approach to discussing free speech, meaning that they believe no limits whatsoever on speech should be imposed. Free speech and a free press are essential for journalism to exist the way it does in this country, able to criticize the government and conduct investigations. In its mission statement, SPJ refers to freedom of speech and of the press as "the cornerstone of our nation and our liberty."
• Having courage. Ugland said objectivity is often stressed as the key principle for journalists to live by, but they must have courage to even attempt being objective. "There are a lot of journalists who think that if they quote three Republican sources and three Democratic sourses, their stories are per se objective," Ugland said. "But all this does is simplify the issue and reinforce the shallow Red-Blue framework that has infected our public discourse." He said true objectivity requires the courage to go beyond two-sided, pro-con approaches and tell all sides of a story -- even if it angers those in power.
Leading Theories in Journalism
• One of the major problems facing contemporary journalism surrounds how the purpose of the discipline should be defined. There are two conflicting theories about this:
• Journalism is primarily a business. This theory is the more practical of the two ways of looking at journalism today. It states that journalism must make money to stay afloat and continue providing the news. This theory can be understood by looking at the case of the L.A. Times in the early 1990s. The Times had been sending special sections to suburbs of L.A. for years; it neglected, however, to cover the central city after which the paper was named. In 1992, it added a special section called City Times for residents of the inner city. When a new CEO took over in 1997, he deemed the section unprofitable, arguing that the paper would possibly have to close and thus cease producing news at all if it continued to print a section that was not being read.
• Journalism is primarily a public service. This is the more idealistic theory used for defining contemporary journalism. Many journalists believe that they serve a greater good than can be measured by any type of bottom line. The SPJ Code of Ethics states that "Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty." This emphasis on "serving the public" in this theory means that news outlets should not become more concerned about gaining advertisers than gaining the public's trust.
Problems Currently Facing Journalists
• They are a dying breed." Ugland used this phrase to describe journalists. He said an increasing number of students are choosing to enter other communications-related fields like advertising and public relations because they are more profitable professions. The trends of blogging and online news sources are also taking potential jobs away from journalists because many people do not get their information from traditional sources like newspapers anymore. This leads potential journalism majors to believe that they will not have jobs upon graduation, and as a result, Ugland said there has been a "brain drain away from journalism schools and toward programs like medicine and law."
• Media consolidation. In recent years, media outlets have become increasingly controlled by a few large corporations. Major companies that are not necessarily media-related are beginning to own media outlets in larger numbers. A prominent example of this is NBC, which is owned by General Electric. Ugland said media consolidation poses problems for journalism because the fewer independent news organizations there are, the fewer people who are in control of information disseminated to the public. Too much media consolidation could lead to having only a few companies using various media outlets
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