14.3 News Media and Ethics
Learning Objectives
- Describe the role of media in delivering news to the public.
- Identify the important characteristics of reliable journalism.
- Summarize the effects of bias in news presentations.
Now more than ever, with the presence of online news sources, audiences expect news delivery to arrive instantaneously, and journalists and news agencies face pressure to release stories rapidly to keep up with competing media sources. With this added pressure, standards of accuracy and fairness become more difficult to uphold. What wins when ethical responsibility and bottom-line concerns conflict? Columnist Ellen Goodman notes that there has always been a tension in journalism between being first and being right. She argues, “In today’s amphetamine world of news junkies, speed trumps thoughtfulness too often (Goodman, 1993).” When reading the following sections, decide whether Goodman’s assessment of the state of the news media today rings true.
Immediate News Delivery
In 1916, technicians in offices of The New York American broadcast the first-ever breaking news coverage of an event: the results of the presidential election between Woodrow Wilson and Charles Evans Hughes. Until that broadcast, American homes received the news once (or twice) per day in the form of a newspaper, and this coverage lagged a day or more behind the actual incidents it reported. Whereas much of radio news coverage even into the 1930s involved the reading of newspaper stories and news wires on the air, radio offered something that the newspapers could not: live coverage of special events (Govier, 2007).
For decades, the public turned to the family radio when they wanted to hear the most recent coverage of important news. All of that changed, however, in 1963 with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. CBS correspondent Dan Rather took television audiences live to “the corner window just below the top floor, where the assassin stuck out his 30-caliber rifle,” and for the first time, people could see an event nearly as it occurred. This signified the beginning of round-the-clock news coverage, and the American public, while still relying on print news for detailed coverage, came to expect greater immediacy of major event reporting through TV and radio broadcasts (Holguin, 2005).
Today, with the widespread availability of Internet news, instant coverage represents the norm rather than the exception, and the Internet has generally replaced TV and radio as the source to obtain immediate information. Visitors to ABCNews.com can watch an evening newscast three and a half hours before it airs on television (Sullivan, 2006 ). Home pages for major news-delivery sites like Yahoo! News and CNN, news tickers, live video streams, blogs, X (formerly Twitter), and a host of other media outlets ensure that news—and rumors of news—circulates within minutes of its occurrence . Additionally, with smartphone applications like those for The New York Times and USA Today, people can receive updates, alerts, and access to the latest news coverage from almost anywhere.
The development of the Internet as a source of free and immediate access to information has forever changed the structure of the news media. Newspaper, television, and radio news programs have all had to adapt and diversify to compete for a share of the market. As Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for Digital Communication put it, “For the first time in 60 years, newspapers are back in the breaking news business.” Online, newspapers can compete with broadcast media for immediate coverage, posting articles on their home pages as soon as they write their stories, and supplementing the articles on their websites with audiovisual content. The era of single-medium newsrooms with predictable deadlines has ended (USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, 2009).
Not only have traditional news media companies restructured their approach, but news consumers have also changed the way they access information. Increasingly, audiences want news on demand; they want to get news when they want it, and they want to gather it from a variety of sources. This has a significant effect on media revenues. News aggregators, websites like Yahoo! News and Google News that compile news headlines from an array of legacy news organizations to display on their pages, have become popular information outlets. Although these websites don’t hire reporters to produce news stories themselves, they get about the same amount of online traffic as websites for legacy news organizations like CNN and The Wall Street Journal. Moreover, many subscribers to print newspapers and magazines have canceled their subscriptions because they can get more current information online at no cost (State of the Media, 2010). Print advertising revenue continues a downward trajectory as well. In 2004, The San Francisco Chronicle reported losing $50 million in classified advertising to free online options like Craigslist.
This loss of revenue has become a problem in recent years because while newspapers and magazines generate some income from advertisements on their websites, the money does not compensate for lost readership and print advertisements. Subscriptions and advertising in traditional print media still account for 90 percent of industry funds, which means with less revenue in these areas, the support base for news organizations has dwindled. Newspapers and magazines across the country have had to restructure and scale down. Newspapers now spend $1.6 billion less annually on reporting and editing than they did 10 years ago (State of the Media, 2010).
Additionally, reduced budgets combined with greater pressure for immediacy have changed the way information gets reported and disseminated. Newsrooms have asked their staffs to focus on producing first accounts more quickly to feed multiple platforms. This often means that more resources go into distributing information than gathering it. Once a source releases news online, it spreads rapidly, and other organizations scramble to release accounts, too, to keep up, often leaving staff less time for fact-checking and editing. Both professional news organizations and nonprofessional sources on blogs, X, and other social media networks then can quickly add their commentary following the initial post.
As a result of this restructuring, certain stories may get distributed, replayed, and commented on almost excessively, while other stories go unnoticed and in-depth coverage that would unearth more facts and context gets neglected. This has led some industry professionals to become anxious over the future of the news industry. The Center for Excellence in Journalism has called the news industry today “more reactive than proactive (State of the Media, 2010).” Journalist Patricia Sullivan complains, “Right now, almost no online news sites invest in original, in-depth and scrupulously edited news reporting.”
While some may disagree with Sullivan, in-depth journalism remains an expensive and time-consuming venture that many online news sites, faced with uncertain revenue streams and a growing consumer demand for real-time news updates, have shown reluctance to bankroll extensively.
Already strapped for funds, news organizations know they have to cater to public demands, which means delivering speedy news. When pop-music icon Michael Jackson died on June 26, 2009, at 2:26 p.m., news of his death hit cyberspace by 2:44 p.m. and soon spread nationwide via Twitter. Surprisingly, celebrity gossip website TMZ released the initial report of Jackson’s death. Legacy news sources hesitated in publishing their account of the event. The Los Angeles Times, wary of the sourcing of the story, waited to confirm the news and didn’t publish the story on its website until 3:15 p.m., by which time, thanks to the speed of social media, the star’s death was already “old news (Collins & Braxton, 2009).”
Social Responsibility of News Media
In the preamble to its statement of purpose, the Committee of Concerned Journalists lists as the central purpose of journalism “to provide citizens with accurate and reliable information they need to function in a free society (Committee of Concerned Journalists).” Scholars often refer to this theory of the social responsibility of the press as the vital information premise. Though sometimes worded differently by different organizations, the journalism community widely accepts the idea as the foundation for any principles of media ethics (Iggers, 1999). The following sections address the specific principles journalists should employ in the current media climate.
Present News Stories That Inform and Serve the Needs of Citizens If the basis for the principles of ethical news reporting requires giving citizens the information they need to function in a democratic society, then they must present that information accurately. Journalists carefully verify the facts before reporting them. As the Committee of Concerned Journalists asserts, “Accuracy is the foundation upon which everything else is built—context, interpretation, comment, criticism, analysis and debate,” so reliable news sources are essential if citizens are to have a clear understanding of the society in which they live.
Furthermore, although news organizations have a professional responsibility toward advertisers and shareholders, their commitment should always focus on the general public first. This means that journalists must report the facts truthfully and without omission, even advertisers, shareholders, or friends do not find the publishing of such facts in their best interest.
Present Issues Fairly Reporting issues fairly requires not only factual accuracy, but also lack of favoritism toward any organization, political group, ideology, or other agenda. The Society of Professional Journalists stipulates that journalists should refuse gifts and favors and avoid political involvement or public office if these things compromise journalistic integrity (Society of Professional Journalists). Additionally, journalists should avoid inflating stories for sensation and demonstrate transparency about their sources of information so that the public can investigate the issues further on their own.
A news story should attempt to present all reasonable sides of an issue. Of course, all journalists have a perspective from which they write, but news organizations and journalists should make a clear distinction between objective news reports and subjective editorial content (American Society of News Editors, 2009).
Present Stories in a Way That Addresses Their Complexity The news media covers many highly complex issues. Developing a thorough understanding of issues requires dedication and a (sometimes) lengthy investigation, and, especially in a world where rapid reporting has become the norm, audiences may find it tempting to gloss over the finer points of an issue for the sake of efficiency. Additionally, most consumers of news find themselves increasingly busy and overwhelmed by the amount of information available, and want stories that they can quickly digest and easily comprehend. However, as the Committee of Concerned Journalists points out, the media must balance what readers want with what they need but cannot anticipate. Oversimplifying issues, whether for the sake of a quick story or to satisfy public tastes, becomes a violation of the vital information premise.
Present Diverse Perspectives
When discussing what he considers one of the key issues in professional journalism, media ethicist Jeremy Iggers points out that because democracy means the widest possible participation of citizens in public life, diversity in journalism is of fundamental importance. Not only should newsroom staff represent a diversity of gender and races, but journalists should also speak for all groups in society—“not just those with attractive demographics,” as the Committee for Concerned Journalists puts it. Journalists should represent the underrepresented because ignoring citizens represents a form of disenfranchisement.
Monitor Government and Corporations
When the framers of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed freedom of the press, they wanted the news media to serve as a watchdog over those in positions of power (Committee of Concerned Journalists). Their work ensures businesses conduct their affairs in the open and government acts stay fresh in the public’s mind. The Washington Post’s investigation of the 1972 Watergate scandal serves as the most famous example of the media fulfilling its watchdog role. During Richard Nixon’s presidency, journalists at the Post uncovered information linking government agencies and officials to the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex as part of an attempt to sabotage the Democratic campaign and guarantee Nixon’s reelection (Flanagan & Koenig, 2003). Media coverage of the scandal increased publicity and ultimately put pressure on the government that led to an investigation and the prosecution of many people involved (Baughman, et. al., 2001).
Characteristics of Reliable Journalism
While CNN and other news networks took some criticism for their delay in reporting Michael Jackson’s death in 2009, others commended the news organizations for waiting for official confirmation. For many journalists and members of the public, ensuring accuracy, even when it means delays, bears the hallmark of responsible journalism.
Various unions and associations worldwide have produced more than 400 journalistic codes of ethics (White, 2008). Where they may differ on specifics, these codes of ethics agree that the news media’s top obligation remains to report the truth. When journalists say this, of course, they don’t mean truth in an absolute, philosophical sense; they mean practical truth, the truth that involves reporting the facts as faithfully and accurately as possible. This notion of truth includes an accurate representation of information from reliable sources, but it also includes a complete representation, one that presents multiple perspectives on an issue and does not suppress vital information.
Along with an emphasis on the truth, codes of ethics stress loyalty to citizens as a standard of primary importance. Especially in the current environment, in which media outlets face increased financial pressure, tension has developed between responsible journalism and the demands for profit. Aiden White notes that corporate and political influences have caused increasing concern in this environment, but he reminds journalists that while they have duties to other constituencies, “media products are not just economic.” Journalists must hold the larger public interest above other interests (White).
Good stories must overcome the challenge of promising sensitivity toward, and protection of, those involved in the news. Responsible journalists should strive to balance disclosure of the news with respect for individual privacy. Finding this balance can sometimes prove challenging. On one hand, journalists should never expose private information that could harm an individual for the sake of sensationalizing a story. Issues like family life, sexual behavior, sexual orientation, or medical conditions, for instance, generally only see publication in the tabloids because such stories would violate the privacy of those involved.
On the other hand, sometimes the media must publicize details about the private lives of individuals in the interest of serving the common good. For example, in 2009 a media scandal surrounding South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who, after media investigations over his weeklong disappearance in June of that year, admitted to flying to Argentina to visit his mistress. After the media revealed that Sanford had used public funds for his private travel, he resigned from his office as the chairman of the Republican Governors’ Association (Associated Press, 2009). Although the publicity surrounding this private matter caused the governor and his family harm, releasing information about the incident, particularly regarding the misuse of public funds, served the best interest of the citizens. The International Federation of Journalists offers three factors to serve as a rough guideline in cases to determine whether a person’s privacy is in danger of being violated: the nature of the individual’s place in society, the individual’s reputation, and his or her place in public life. Politicians, judges, and others in elected office often must forgo their expectations of privacy for reasons of democracy and accountability—the public’s right to know if their elected officials engage in unethical or criminal conduct generally trumps an individual’s right to privacy.
Because the press must serve the citizens’ best interests in a democracy, journalists must act independently and remain neutral in their presentation of information, and used the term objectivity to support this notion. Though audiences often prefer objective journalism, wider acceptance of the fact that reporting always occurs through a lens of personal experience, culture, beliefs, and background that ultimately all influence the way any individual perceives a situation has grown (Myrick, 2002). Nevertheless, responsible journalism requires journalists to avoid favoritism and to present news that offers a fair and complete picture of the issue or event.
The principle of journalistic independence remains an important component of the news media’s watchdog role. Journalists should avoid conflicts of interest—financial, political, or otherwise—and, when they can avoid such conflicts of interest they should ethically disclose them.
One example involving conflict of interest centers on recent talk of government bailouts for the news media, similar to the bailouts for the auto and banking industries. However, many journalists expressed concern that government support of this kind would present a conflict of interest and interfere with the media’s watchdog role (Nicklaus, 2010).
In addition to maintaining independence, the news media should allow for commentary and opposition. Leaving space for citizens to voice concerns about journalistic conduct demonstrates transparency and helps serve the public’s interest and keep their trust.
The Effects of Bias in News Presentations
While principles of ethical journalism require journalists to remain neutral in their reporting, a degree of bias will likely appear in any news reporting due to the element of personal perspective that any journalist will naturally bring to his or her work. A 2005 in-depth study by political scientists at UCLA found that, of 20 media outlets, 18 had a perspective in their news reporting that ranged left of the national average. Of those 20, only Fox News and The Washington Times scored to the right of the average U.S. voter (Sullivan, 2005).
What, exactly, does political bias in the media look like? In the UCLA study, they scored news sources based on their sources of information and expert opinion. The news outlets with the most liberal slant—CBS News and The New York Times—cited liberal think tanks and policy groups with a much greater frequency than they cited conservative ones (Groseclose & Milyo, 2005). Audiences can also observe political bias by examining which stories a network or newspaper chooses to report. According to media analyst Seth Ackerman, the right-leaning Fox News network reports news stories that favor the Republican Party or show the Democratic Party in a negative light. Additionally, Fox’s panels of pundits who offer commentary after the news tend to hold politically conservative or moderate feelings far more often than liberal (Ackerman, 2001).
Of course, such biases in news media affect public opinion. However, while the picture a journalist or particular news outlet creates may not entirely represent objectivity, journalists with integrity will strive to offer fair and comprehensive coverage, offering opposing views and citing their sources of information. The general public should remember that they also have a responsibility to actively, rather than passively, consume information. Good media consumers use critical analysis skills while reading news reports. In the modern era, readers or viewers will have the resources they need to research an issue further and draw conclusions. Keep in mind the ethical obligations of those who work in mass media and the potential consequences of their failure to uphold them.
