Journalistic Principles

According to the text book, All in the News, objectivity requires that journalists stick to observable facts and avoid injecting their opinions into news reports. Being objective is all about facts and not about opinions. You should be neutral when reporting the news.

Thoroughness requires time to track down and talk with the best sources, find the best documentary evidence, and so on. The goal is go give the audience as much information as possible so they can understand what is happening and make informed decisions based on that information. Being thorough in journalism is very important. Not only are you allowing yourself to understand the story more but your giving the audience more information to based their opinions on.

Accuracy is vital in journalism. If something is not accurate, it has absolutely no value. People turn to the news for a major source of news information. If something is not accurate then people have a tendency not to trust that particular news source. People remember the bad things more than the good.

Fairness means an attempt to make sure all the bases are covered. According to columnist Nat Hentoff, “Fairness means you get the facts, all of them if you can, especially when they surprise you into re-evaluating what you thought the story was going to be about when you began.” A journalist has to be fair.

Transparency is the idea that to gain and maintain public trust, journalists must be as open as possible about what biases they bring to the job, how they get their information and how they make decisions on choosing and reporting stories. Steven A. Smith, editor of The Spokesman-Review said that transparency is about being open about mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes but learning from those mistakes is what sets people apart. You have to be open and let others know you too are human.

I think the most important journalistic principle is accuracy. If you are not accurate then you cannot be trusted especially in reporting the news. You need to be a good investigator not just a good journalist. Do your homework, be thorough, triple check the facts. Don’t get caught taking a shortcut that can be costly. You don’t want to look like a liar even if it was an honestly mistake. If it was a mistake, fess up! Explain how it happened to gain the publics trust back.