Reporting
the Truth
There is no doubt that media has a major influence on society.
The Declaration of Principles on the Conduct of Journalists of the
International Federation of Journalists states that “respect for the truth and
for the right of the public to truth is the first duty of the journalist” (Banks,
2013, p. 246). Journalist must consider how much the public
has a need to know, what the public has a right to known and how to keep the public’s
interest long enough to keep up their ratings. That is why it is imperative that reporting
the truth should be seen a moral responsibility. In their efforts to report the
truth, the scope, completeness and quality of the news they air are often
affected by the journalist perspective and personal motivations. In
deciding what is pertinent when reporting news to the public, journalist should
ensure the information is substantially complete, encourage objective understanding
and that it be balanced and accurate.
When news is substantially complete, the viewer or reader
should be able to understand what is being reported with completeness and
descriptive clarity. The media and
journalists as well have the propensity to frame the story; “a central
organizing idea for news content that supplies a context and suggests what the
issue is through the use of selection, emphasis, exclusion, and elaboration” (Banks,
2013, p. 246). The journalist’s adds commentary
or omits important facts about the report that would alter how a reasonable
viewer would receive the news. For
instance, a band robber is captured after a police chase that resulted in the
injury of several innocent civilians. To
omit the fact that the bank robber is an unemployed factory worker with who was
robbing the bank to feed his family or that the innocent civilians were ten construction
workers armed with two-by-fours who attacked the bank robber as he was fleeing
the scene, could alter the public’s reaction to the story and compassion for
the bank robber.
To encourage objective understanding when reporting news
and information to the public, it is crucial that the journalist leave their
personal biases and values on the editing table and report the news from an objective
point of view. They should interview experts with opposing viewpoints to “present
the broader context when reporting on complex issues of legitimate public
interest” (Banks, 2013, p. 246), to maintain a balance in the weight of the
information reported. The media or journalist
should not use his or her access to the public’s “ear” to gain support for
their personal opinion or political position; but recruit experts on both sides
of the subject matter and verify material and sources that can be officially
verified to avoid the appearance of bias. The down side to that is that the official
sources are prone to provide information and facts that are tainted in favor of
their position. An example of a lack of
objective reporting is the Fox news channel (a blatantly conservative news
channel) and their handling of the presidential election. To be objective, the same could be criticized
of Real Time with Bill Maher for his obvious bias, although very entertaining, liberal
views.
Finding balance and accuracy in the media can be
difficult when the desire to report the news is clouded by discrimination and
disparity that is still present on our society.
Many times it starts with inadequate and insufficient evidence that is
then promulgated in the media. The media
has often been criticized for their part in the perpetuation the images of
Black criminology. Media stereotyping of
black youth as “a violent and menacing street thug” (Banks, 2013, p. 248), has
given credence to the public’s fear and panic young black males. Blacks do indeed commit more crimes; however,
the statistics show a very different story. According to Welch (2007:276) in 2002, Blacks
make up about 13% of the population, 38% of the arrests for violent crimes and
27% of the arrests for property crime. The
War on drugs escalated, and Blacks were again stigmatized for the increase in
crime in the media which was embedded into public opinion. The truth is that “whites compose 75% of drug
users while black represent only 13%. This
is usually omitted from media reports, and the focus has been spent in minority
communities where the media, politicians and misinformed public has declared
the battleground for the War on Drugs. Blacks
were twice as likely to be portrayed as criminal suspects than their white
counterparts.
Media influences crime control policies by publicly
displaying emotional victims who invoke the sympathy and compassion (brutal
murders, sex crimes, school shootings etc.), prey on and incite moral panics
and public fear of crime. The “fear of
crime and fear of being victimized by crime are key influences in criminal
justice policy making and in the promotion of punitive policies” (Banks, 2013,
p. 250). When the media continually
saturates our lives with the images of victims and “fuel public fear” that is
looks like a certain race or culture, they are contributing to the unethical assumption
that the black male is a criminal, and perpetuate the need for tougher laws,
penalties and sentencing that add to the disparity of the criminal justice
system.
References
Banks,
C. (2013). Criminal justice ethics. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, INC.
