Responsible Journalism within a democracy

ETHICAL CONDUCT is an underlying principle within any democracy. According to one simple definition of journalism, it is the act of reporting news for the media. The professions created by the gathering, editing, and publishing reports, articles for newspapers, magazines, television, or radio talk shows are a part of the process. One significant principle of journalistic professionalism is objectivity. {{more}} As the term objectivity lacks a single meaning due to its use in varied ways, in this context, objectivity refers to fairness, factuality and non-partisanship. Herein resides the art of responsible journalism within a democracy.

The media has served the public by providing information, exposing wrongdoings and educating the masses on relevant issues. However, the media must at all times consider the fundamentals of nation building when addressing issues of such importance, anything less will lead to an atrocity of the intellect. In recent times the lapse in professionalism exhibited by local commentators is more than alarming. There is no line drawn between propaganda and facts anymore. Today, journalism is about drama and theatrics in most instances. Such negative impacts of irresponsible journalism on the society must be avoided at all costs.

The most common falsehood told by journalist is the falsehood of omission. A critical fact is left out of the story and the listener or reader subconsciously fills in the details from their imagination which gives the story a whole new and false meaning. A similar item is taking things out of context. In this regard, I would like to sound a little warning, be careful little ears what you listen to, and who you listen to, especially persons posing as educators, who are actually imposters and false prophets. It would be interesting to conduct a study among some of our so-called self-appraised, in a bid to find out why some people think the way they do, consequently acting with certain misguided motions and writing along a set agenda. Why are we failing to stick to the facts and analysing the facts with some degree of national pride?

Irresponsible journalism leads to the impoverishment of the intellect of the public. In fact the only result is intellectual slavery. As a people we must be careful, since this can degenerate into many ugly and undesirable scenes. The utterances of some clearly show that we may become a “hate state” founded on falsehoods. Education is the way forward which entails the renewing of the inner spirit, advancement of the intellect and the spanning of a sound understanding that democracies are built on the principle of openness both in terms of entertaining the voice of the party commanding the majority and the voice of the opposition.

The first obligation of a journalist is to report the truth. A truthfully informed public is better able to deal with contentious issues and see long term benefits; make productive contributions; provide useful feedback to government actions; understand the potential for a better standard of living and act with an understanding of a progressive personal and national vision.

When one reports for public utilization, one must always remember that you have the responsibility to avoid dragging the wool over the eyes of the masses for personal gains. In the recent past, journalists have been found to embellish and fabricate stories for political profit. In order to succeed in enlightening the listeners, readers and viewers and to improve our society, it is essential to apply the same objective standard to visual and auditory information. Reporting the truth is the cornerstone of responsible journalism, we must seek to accurately reflect important and interesting information without harm.

According to an American Committee for Concerned journalists, the role of journalism includes but is not limited to: foremost loyalty to the citizenry; its essence is a discipline of verification; its practitioners must always maintain an independence from those they cover; it must serve as an independent monitor of power; journalism must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise; it must keep the news comprehensive and proportional and its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.

The principles of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality and fairness must be adhered to strictly. The people who choose to go to the public as commentators must first get their facts straight. How effective is an education revolution when it is being countered with a measured revolution of ignorance, propagated through the intended manufacturing of falsehoods. We must watch our step!