Loyalty

One of the most important and controversial elements of journalists is their loyalty to citizens. Although ideally it is easy to say that journalists first loyalty is to citizens, it is much difficult in the real world where advertising runs the newspaper business. Newspapers and broadcasts are dependent on companies purchasing ad space in order to make money. In situations depicted in both "Goodnight and Good Luck" and "The Insider" journalists question where their first loyalty is.

Journalists are becoming more and more disengaged from their audiences. Because fewer journalists are from the communities they serve, they are often unaware of nuances of their audience. However, they are less biased because they are more disengaged from their audience. I think that a more engaged journalist population is better because the audience is more likely to trust a journalist that they can relate to and if a journalist is from the community they are reporting on, the audience will be more likely to listen to the journalist and trust the information they are receiving.

Additionally, the wall between journalism and advertising is both dangerous and necessary. By separating parts of a business it becomes difficult to keep the business running smoothly. However, without the wall journalism would become entangled with advertising and it would be difficult to write an unbiased story that is not influenced directly by the advertisers. However, even with the wall, journalists can still be influenced by advertisers and the business side of journalism as was the case with the LA Times and the Staples Center sports arena.

In this situation, the LA Times had a deal with the Staples Center Sports Arena and published a a magazine about the facility splitting revenues with the stadium. The reporters were not aware of the business deal and were considerably upset when the scandal was reported. The following link shows an interview showing how upset the reporters were when the news of the scandal came loose.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec99/la_times_12-16.html

One of the most important things newspapers can do is to ensure the public knows that they are the first priority of the newspaper. The number one job of journalists is to tell the truth to the audience to make an informed public. By becoming transparent and aware of communities the public will begin to trust journalists again and be more willing to talk with them about issues affecting individuals. Some corporations such as the New York Times and Washington Post have set up standards, however, the pubic is often not aware of these standards because they are not easy to get to. The audience has to search for the standards rather than the journalists making them easily available.

The New York Times standards are linked here: http://www.nytco.com/press/ethics.html
The Washingtin Post's standards are linked here: http://www.washpost.com/gen_info/principles/index.shtml