Group Presentation: Verification

Thursday my group presented on verification in journalism. I lead the class game, "Classroom Feud." It was based off of the tv show "Family Feud," and I'll admit, I'd never watched it before. But I had fun youtubing it and learning about the game. This video was particularly entertaining.

We discussed journalism's information role in serving a democracy. Journalists' duty to provide truthful information is an essential part of journalism. If citizens can no longer trust what journalists write about, then journalism will cease to exist as we know it. It will no longer be aiding a free democracy, but serving its own twisted agenda.

Because journalists need to gain the public's trust, proofreading multiple times is important. We suggested the class use a red pen to mark each statement in an article, once that statement had been confirmed and reconfirmed.

Bloggers have permanently changed journalism. In the past, journalists basically the only sources for international or local news. Bloggers should hold themselves to the same codes of ethics, and should strive to ensure that all of their information is correct. Some would argue (I among them, at first!) that blogs are not a credible source of information. Our class has discussed several instances when bloggers posted false information, and newspapers published the information without questioning it. In my opinion, both bloggers and newspapers are at fault in this situation. Both ought to be more responsible about what they publish; however, the newspapers do carry more expectation. Both bloggers and newspapers depend on a following and readership; if they're information becomes discredited, they will lose the public's trust.

Once a newspaper touches a story, the facts are lost forever, even to the protagonists.
~Norman Mailer 

 Advertisements… contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
~Thomas Jefferson

Get your facts first, and then you can distort ‘em as much as you please.
~Mark Twain

As a journalist, I never want to earn such a poor reputation. The day the day the entire world views journalism so poorly, will be the day journalists no longer serve a free democracy and abandon their loyalty to the citizens.