The journalist ethics code is something that was introduced to me in this table talk with my peers.

Journalism is something that is being attacked by many people for issues that are unethical. The issue of fake news in our election in 2016, the large amount of clickbait being spread online, and the very nature of journalism changing to suit the times are all things that were discussed.

Journalism over the years has changed, and the change that it is going through right now with the internet is definitely a bridge that needs to be crossed. The way people get their information online is rapidly changing, with apps that work as news aggregators, publications going online (i.e NYT), or something that is growing larger and larger, news from social media. I myself get my news from social media, which I believe is dangerous. I don’t read the articles, I just read the titles that either the publisher or user posting the link wrote. Sometimes the titles are misleading or don’t show the entire message, but it doesn’t matter because I read the title and moved on. And if I want to learn more, I read the comments that explain the article (or to just watch people who didn’t read the article argue about it). And if I want to learn more, I then read the article. Reading the article is the LAST thing I do for some reason and it confuses me.

And even more alarming is that reading my news off social media means that my peers and I choose what is shown to people first. If I or somebody else don’t like the news or something, I just downvote it. With enough people, the post hides to obscurity. And if the title is plain boring, nobody upvotes it, leaving it hidden again. What do we do about this? I have no idea honestly, but its better to be aware than unaware

This table talk with GRF Sam covered different aspects of journalism including what constitutes “good” journalism, current journalism vs. past journalism and how/what ethical journalism is. We all seemed to come to the consensus that journalism now is so accessible and publicized because of increased prevalence of social media, news outlets, etc. The problem that we identified was the increasingly more political journalism is becoming which seems to defy the roots of journalism which is to tell the story as it is for the people/audience to interpret. This is an interesting problem because it doesn’t seem like there is an easy fix for it. This makes me wonder if in the future, there is ever going to be “honest” journalism that truly allows the audience to come to their own conclusions.

The talk about ethical journalism with GRF Sam was very interesting, especially considering that we had information literally at the tips of our fingertips. A large part of journalism is the efficacy of the readers. They need to acknowledge that complete impartiality is impossible, and that to responsibly consume news is to take it with a grain of salt. Bias falls on the author and the news provider. It is well know that Fox News and CNN and BBC all carry different political weight.

As someone who is very interested in publishing and was involved with multiple publications in high school as well as here at Cornell, ethical writing is a source of contention. What is ethical writing? And how does it fluctuate depending on the type of publishing one is doing? I left current events journalism in high school for a more personal writing process in college, and the two are very different. I hope that readers know that publishing and journalism are two very different areas.

We had a wonderful discussion with Sam on the ethical standards in journalism and the role and aim of journalism in general. It seemed that much of journalism as it is right now cannot please all the viewers, and regardless of how a happening is portrayed, someone will be unhappy with the way things are described. We also identified that many papers nowadays are very politically influenced and seek to only satisfy their own reader base. There is also the issue of truth, are journals held to a standard of telling the truth and only the truth? We felt that the people should hold journalism accountable for this by not only choosing which papers we read but also having an opinion about how articles are written in them. We also felt that truth and validity does not play a role in all articles, and some are more focused on the opinions of the journalist or paper rather than reporting objective facts.

This week, I had the opportunity of being a part of a discussion about journalism. It was really  fascinating because this isn’t  a kind of discussion I would normally be engaged in since I really don’t know  much about journalism. Truthfully, I attended the discussion because it was the only activity that fit my schedule this week and I didn’t expect to gain any much out of it. However, I was wrong! The discussion led by GRF Sam was so enlightening and interesting. Even though I knew almost nothing about journalism, I could understand and relate to everything discussed. What stood out to me was a question of bias and ethics in journalism and if journalism would really be possible and effective if bias didn’t exist.. Everyone gave great insights into this topic from multiple perspectives. I had a great experience in the end!

Tolani

image: nytimes.com

I have always had an immense amount of respect for the practice of journalism, and the sacrifices that journalists make to ensure the correct narrative of the current circumstances is accessible to populations worldwide. However, in recent times the lines are becoming more blurred, and journalism is devolving into a highly politicized field. Although many journalists still try to ensure the correct narrative and both aspects of a situation become accessible to readers, there is still a large portion of journalists writing to convey a very construed message or writing for a target audience, rather than writing to inform. Today’s talk was especially interesting for me, because I not only was exposed to varying opinions regarding journalism today, but also learned how a lot of my peers are obtaining their information. We discussed the importance of being open to all news sources; however, we also established that seeking different sources and being cognisant of the information we are exposed to is equally imperative.