Nowadays we are finding that the world wants to express their voices in a very loud manner. The question that comes up is if this manner is politically correct to partake in and be a journalist at the same time. The crazy part is that being a journalist back in the day you would get in trouble by putting the opinion of your thoughts out for the world to read and call out the issues instead of just telling the facts.
To be honest, emotions are high with what is going on in today’s news. With Trump and his plans if he becomes president, Syrian refugees, the Paris and San Bernardino killings, these things can make anyone have wild emotions, with good reason. The main fact is that journalists are only human so again we should we not be surprised that the opinion articles are making their way through to the public eye even more so than ever.
Something has changed in the journalistic world lately, the anchors of the longstanding platforms are coming out of the woodwork to give their thoughts and that was not the code of ethics that we took as a journalist. Look at Tom Brokaw the other night when he went to town on Trump for being Trump.
Brokaw stated that “Trump’s statement, even in this season of extremes, is a dangerous proposal that overrides history, the law and the foundation of America itself,” He also added that “defeating ISIS will be long, hard and expensive, perhaps even more so now because ISIS is likely to use Donald Trump’s statements as a recruiting tool.” Brokaw does concur that “Yes, the Jihadists are radical Muslims, but they are a minority in a world with a billion and a half Muslims,”.
Granted Brokaw has the right to say what he feels and that is what freedom of speech is but journalists did take a code of ethics. That we need to be accurate and fair and nothing says that the opinion of what the Journalist feels should be forced upon the reader.
The journalist needs to be honest with being courageous in gathering their information to report. That the interpretation should not be opinionated in the process of reporting. Have we ever seen Dan Rather report the news this way or even when Barbara Walters did her interview with many of people that would make you feel dirty inside she always not matter what still remained a lady and a professional.
Since when is it okay to have a double standard when it comes to reporting. Like what Editor in Chief Ben Smith told his team that to not be a “political partisans” in the light of social media. But it was clearly okay, he stated that “entirely fair to call him a mendacious racist, as the politics team and others here have reported clearly and aggressively: He’s out there saying things that are false, and running an overtly anti-Muslim campaign. BuzzFeed News’s reporting is rooted in facts, not opinion; these are facts.”
Did they forget that there needs to be a balance for the public’s need for information and not harm or make things a discomfort of watching the news. Being a journalist is not about bashing and they need to remember that we may hurt the ones that are reading and taking the time for us journalist.
There is a lack of compassion at these times and we are not sure who can be affected by watching some sensitive news. There is a lack of consideration of cultural differences in the way the approach has been lately. And journalists need to realize that people have the right to control their own information by themselves without the news bullying them into their train of thoughts.
That only makes them look like the person that they are pointing the finger towards. You know that saying, pointing a finger at someone and you end up having three pointing straight back towards you. There is consequences of publishing and the lack of a “Fair Trial” with the people’s right to know about the information. That need to consider the implications before putting the suspect as the “Criminal” before the actions of legal action has even happened.
Journalists need to consider the long term effect of the publications. If not we will not know what the end effect and the news can end up being the collateral damage. Then they just lost everything that they stood for when they started this career field and all of this bashing was for nothing in the end.
