Journalist Meet: Journalist Integrity
This class will be interesting today because we shall be discussing journalists’ integrity as they go gather and report the news.
And you must not forget that integrity cuts across trustworthiness, honesty, uprightness and truthfulness.
You report the news – you do not comment on it. How? Cover the story, report the facts and stick to them. Do you get that class?
The facts you choose to include and/or exclude can amount to editorializing. Always tell both sides of a story fairly.
Beware of subconscious or unconscious preferences. We all have them. They can slip into our copy without us realizing it.
Take this as an example “The first Lady made a strong case for universal health care coverage.” Here you can see that the writer has used his/her opinion by using the word ‘strong’ rather than saying “the first Lady made an emphatic case for universal health care coverage.”
Please after today’s class, endeavour to preach it out to your colleagues that straight news stories dishonors the use of opinions.
We all have personal biases. Know them and strive to keep them in check.
Try to portray each side of the story as objectively and as accurately as humanly possible. Always give each side of the story for every controversial issue.
Postmodernists may argue there is no such thing as perfect objectivity.
Well, there may be no such thing as a perfect circle, either.
And there’s a big difference between objective and subjective news writing.
You can always be objective enough. Just be fair. Tell both sides of the story.
A word for the wise is sufficient. Follow what is said in this class and see if you can put them to practice. See in our nest class.
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