Why Journalist Should Not Lie

Why Journalist Should not Lie

Joel Prentice

Joel Prentice 000453439

PHI-108-Z4 Professional Ethics-

December 15, 2017

Michael Kocsis

Why Journalist Should not Lie

While no official rules are dictating what is acceptable in undercover reporting, there is a widespread belief that you should not lie to get a story. Journalists act as the scribes of history, and for this reason, it is essential that our history is documented accurately. The media is supposed to be the guardians of democracy, rather than puppets to a national security state. They are supposed to stop corruption like when they freed us from a crooked presidency and informed the people about a bad war. Instead, the volume of atrocious journalism plaguing our media in recent years has led to a decreased trust in our media outlets. Lying by the press is not acceptable because when the press lies, it alters the public's confidence in the facts and increased dishonesty is leading to distrust in the media, which in turn has created a lack of confidence in our media sources.

Lying by the media is not acceptable because their voices are far-reaching and a very powerful device. When we hear, digest, and process news that is given to us we begin formulating ideas and opinions based on that information. Journalists can sway the public's view in matters of war, race, and atrocities committed against our fellow man. This is an exceptional responsibility that is bestowed upon them and should not be taken lightly. We have to be able to trust that the information we receive from our media outlets is coming from factual research and that it has been fact checked to ensure the accuracy of the story. Nobody wants to be manipulated into following a false narrative based on biased information. Journalists have lied on countless occasions to sell a story, cover up the truth, or push a narrative. This has been seen in the completely fabricated stories written by journalists such as Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, and Jayson Blair. Journalist William Henry Duranty covered up the mass genocide occurring in Ukraine, stating that there were only partial crop failures and denying there was any starvation. During the fighting in Kosovo, there were many reports about Serbian atrocities that were at times completely false, pushing a narrative that supported the US and NATO's involvement in the conflict. This misinformation does a severe disservice to the public and fails to inform them of the facts adequately. Misinformation provided by noteworthy news sources creates an environment of skepticism. People stop trusting the information that is offered to them and begin seeing otherwise reputable sources of information as being on the same level as tabloid news sources.