The Job of the Journalist

Journalism: a discipline of collecting, analyzing, verifying and presenting news regarding

current events, trends, issues and people.

The Job of the Journalist (taken from Journalism: Who What When Where Why & How 19)

Journalists decide what news is, and in doing so they make many important decisions about what

a society says to itself, how it explains itself, what social order is established and maintained, and

how the problems and shortcomings of that society are revealed. In addition to doing all these

things, journalists also have certain responsibilities to their own profession:

* They must maintain the standards of their profession as well as the customs and

conventions of the journalistic culture. These conventions include gathering news and

information, editing it for their medium, and distributing it in ways that meet standards of

fairness and accuracy.

* Journalists have the responsibility of maintaining the economic health of their news

organizations. Because these organizations are not government sponsored or supported

(except in rare instances), they must make enough profit to continue operation and to

have the resources to practice the kind of journalism that is expected and necessary for

society.

* Finally, journalists are charged with fostering and promoting the idea of an open society

in which information flows freely, people can think and speak creatively and a variety of

points of view about all topics is tolerated.

The primary role of the journalist is to question and uncover truths.

1. Discover and publish information that replaces rumour and speculation

2. Resist or evade government control

3. Inform and so empower voters

4. Subvert those whose authority relies on a lack of public information

5. Scrutinize the action and inaction of governments, elected representatives and public

services.

6. Scrutinize businesses, their treatment of workers and customers and the quality of their

products.

7. Comfort

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