An article in The Huffington Post by Jack Mirkinson talks about what the New York Observer calls the “Media Winter”, hinting that the print media and corporate internet media will be facing layoffs and downsizing. Some of these layoffs in the article included,
• Roughly 120 staffers at The Daily found themselves out of a job when Rupert Murdoch shuttered the iPad newspaper on Monday.
• The New York Times said it would ask at least 30 staffers to sign up for voluntary buyouts and threatened that it would have to lay people off if there were not enough takers.
• Newsweek began what staffers fear will be a massive editorial purge.
• The Cleveland Plain Dealer told its union employees to expect about a third of the newsroom staff to be cut.
• And the Guardian announced that it is seeking to reduce its staff by 68 across its various titles.
Personally I believe the MSM would benefit immensely IF it followed Journalism’s Code of Ethics.
Follow me below the carrot spaghetti for my rant.
The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties should strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility.
Journalism’s Code of Ethics
Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
Journalists should:
1. Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.
2. Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.
3. Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.
4. Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.
5. Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.
6. Never distort the content of news photos or video. Image enhancement for technical clarity is always permissible. Label montages and photo illustrations.
7. Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it.
8. Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story
9. Never plagiarize.
10. Tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so.
11. Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.
12. Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.
13. Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.
14. Give voice to the voiceless; official and unofficial sources of information can be equally valid.
15. Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.
16. Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.
17. Recognize a special obligation to ensure that the public's business is conducted in the open and that government records are open to inspection.
WOW! What a unique and refreshing approach it would be. What a difference it would make in the WSJ, The New York Post, The Washington Examiner, Washington Times, Manchester (NH) Union-Leader, Daily Oklahoman, ABC, CBS, NBC,(both TV News and Radio News), Sunday News Shows. Granted even Liberal News sources in MSM have been blurred in not living up to the JCoE.
Unfortunately, it leaves me with the “TASK” of reading two or sometimes multiple sources on news stories and then try to decipher what’s true and what’s not.
At one time the public could rely on the MSM to find out the truth and report it. Now I have to do it. Damn! I didn’t go to journalism school. I’m not a journalist. Come to think of it. Why the hell did these kids and today’s journalists go to school for any way? They all could have gone to the Katherine Gibbs School for stenography, which is what the profession is today. I watch political debates and a journalist tells me what I just watched and heard. They don’t tell me candidate X or Y is lying. Yeah I said the word all journalists don’t have in their dictionaries – ‘Lying’. They can’t report on policies. They can’t report on corruption. They can’t report. Why? Because they’re stenographers. If an opinion is offered it’s their own bias one not one laid in truth.
Journalists what the fuck are they afraid of?
Journalists where are they?
Answer: Probably the way of a true “Statesman” another lost breed.
My dad (born in 1894) always said to me “No news is good news.” With today’s journalists, this is so true.
I apologize for this rant but, thank God, the Daily Kos has given me the form to let my frustrations out.