►A 2019 survey by the American Press Institute found 75% of Americans believe it is “very or extremely important” for journalists to hold leaders accountable. Conversely, 65% felt they either had some confidence or none at all in their ability to question leaders the way journalists did.
►A key part of holding the powerful accountable is calling out when they do not tell the truth or use propagandistic techniques to control public debate:
- The Poynter Institute in 2023 called it “the most important issue in news media,” and noted that broadcasts of live speeches and debates can be especially troublesome.
- The Reuters Institute offered a list of what journalists should and should not do to cover lies and other falsehoods told by the powerful.
- Echoing the terms and propagandistic techniques used by powerful people and organizations can give them more power. As noted on the Doing Ethics in Media blog, using terms such as “tort reform” instead of the neutral “changes to civil liability laws” can unfairly shape the debate on such topics.
Sources:
- https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2023/how-journalists-cover-lies-is-the-most-important-issue-in-news-media/
- https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/we-asked-people-all-over-world-how-journalists-should-cover-powerful-people-who-lie-here-0
- https://www.doingethicsinmedia.com/define-your-terms-or-the-propagandists-win/
►Michael Casey of the Associated Press reported that consolidations and closures of local newsrooms across the United States has affected their ability to keep local politicians accountable. He wrote that community newspapers “typically have played the lead role in their communities,” and their absence means decreased transparency and increased government spending.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/816b31f8571d4b759227e58c6252e99d
►Lynn Walsh of Trusting News said news organizations with the mission of holding the powerful to account should explain that to readers. “Write about it and include it in a mission statement or on an ‘About Us’ or ‘Ethics’ page,” she wrote on SPJ’s Ethics Central discussion of the Code. “The same is true about other stories you tell that focus on helping people who may not be heard. Explain how these goals and values impact your story selection, which sometimes includes explaining what you don’t cover.”
Source: https://ethicscentral.org/ethicscode/
►Some SPJ members want the phrase “Give voice to the voiceless” removed from the Code, and among the reasons is that this concern is at least partially covered in the Code’s statement that journalists should “[s]eek sources whose voices we seldom hear.” (Also, social media can provide some access to communication to larger audiences.)
- Malaka Shwaikh, a professor at the University of St. Andrews, made the case that the term “voiceless” may be outdated. She wrote that the term can burden society’s most marginalized people. “It makes this ‘voicelessness’ their own problem rather than that of the structure that leaves their voices unheard or deliberately silenced,” she wrote.
- Writing in Harvard’s Nieman Reports Erika Dilday, recommends that journalists “help people tell their own stories by talking less, listening more.”
- In one of his final essays, the late journalism educator Steve Buttry described journalism’s job as “amplifying” voices that are less likely to be heard.
Sources: