Good Online Journalism And The Question Of Truth And Authenticity Essay Example

Introduction

Impacts of globalization do not only affect policy of a country, but also the ethical personality of individuals in countries that embrace it. The media has played a pivotal role in embracing globalization and the internet has been the major instrument used in collecting and disseminating information from and to the public. Considering that many people (audience and respondents) to journalists have “gone online,” most of the journalists have opted to practice their profession via the internet and the whole issue has raised a question of truth and authenticity of the media content.
It is important to explore into the issue of authenticity and truth of online journalism because most of the journalists rely on blogs, encyclopedia, and search engines such as Google for media content. For this reason, the paper seeks to unveil the truth into the topic of discussion and categorically prove that online journalism lacks the element truth and authenticity. The question many online readers usually ask is that, “is the content of online journalism verifiable, is it accurate and reliable? Can someone (the journalist) or the source (respondent) be held accountable for the content? Realistically, the issue of authenticity of online journalism relates to the issue of personal ethics and culture of the people. Considering that the media is used to influence politics and change people’s way of thinking and the only source of information is the internet, the ethical issue of online journalism has changed.

Thesis statement

Online journalism lacks the element truth and authenticity
Research Question
Is the content of online journalism verifiable, is it accurate and reliable?
Is there a relationship between personal ethics, culture and authenticity of online journalism?
Online information has a low level of truth- online journalists should stop using it
Dating back to the 20th century, when digital or online journalism started in Britain, the truth and authenticity of information disseminated to the audience was not questionable. The rationale behind it is that encyclopedias such as Wikipedia and related websites were few or did not exist and for that reason, journalists had to rely on primary sources to develop their stories (Demir 538). Apart from that, social media which currently harbor the majority of audience was not there because the generation at that time was not aggressive in terms of computer utilization. It is important to note that anyone with a blog or an interactive website is capable of staring an online media, which means that the kind of information he will be presenting to the public will be unprofessional, unethical and hence lacks truth. The degree of truth and authenticity of information disseminated via online is lower than that of media content disseminated through normal journalism.
The code of professionalism of journalism stipulates that the respondents and a researcher should practice some privacy, be aware of copyright, and avoid racism, hate, unreliable or harmful material, and pornographic material among others. Considering that the whole process of online journalism takes place on a virtual platform, it paves way for illegal activities, which raises truth and authenticity questions. Apart from that, online media content is not usually subjected to editorial auditing, which is supposed to streamline the profession of journalism. Lack of professionalism can easily make online journalist to compromise their media content for money or material gains so as to compromise their content in favor of a given politician, government official and other influential people in the society who might want to change the way of thinking of youth or online users (Broersma 28).
In the wake of 21st century when the social media shaped communication, journalist changed their way of executing their duties because they had to target an increasing number of audience on online sources, and for that reason, they had to rely on online sources to enhance their work. The overreliance in the social media and the internet as sources of information for online journalism began to lose its credibility (Demir 540). In the first place, most online blogs, website or portals give readers a chance to edit or contribute on the information; for this reason, journalist who rely on these sources of information to develop stories will end up presenting incorrect information to the audience some of which are found online.
In his work Drexler (1) states that most of the people trust twitter more than other sources of information because they have a culture of not believing in people they know, (Journalists) and instead believe in strangers. The culture of untrustworthiness has contributed to the notion and behavior in online journalist, which makes them not consider the authenticity of the information they present to the public. According to the code of professionalism in journalism, the journalist must ensure that they present verifiable, credible and accurate information to the public. On the contrary, many online journalists have developed a culture of failing to be professional and hence presenting false information.
According to Drexler (1), the youth has got out of the educational system thinking that they will get jobs immediately as their parents did, but the state of the economy has made it hard for companies to employ most of them. For this reason, many youths are conservative in nature and pessimistic in what makes them feel their welfare might change. Although not directly, Drexler has observed the “strong generation” is one that does not trust anyone whom they know. Considering that some of them might have gotten jobs as journalists, the culture of untrustworthy has influenced the works of many; hence affecting the quality of work they are presenting to the public.
The information from the report written by Drexler is informative in such a way that it has highlighted the socio-cultural nature of the youths and hence the general public, which has shaped the way online users including journalism, should be conducted. The report by the author has incorporated findings from research conducted by various companies, which has proved that the content is credible, reliable and can be verifiable. However, the author did not look at the whole issue of online social media usability and how it affects the code of profession.
I have to admit that the report by Drexler (1) has been helpful because from it I have been able to link how the social media has influenced online journalism. I was able to go through various researches as outlined in the report by the author and it gave me a new understanding of how online journalism lacks the element of truth and credibility. For instance, in the report by Drexler, he states that the new generation has enough tools to acquire any information they need on the internet and disseminate the same or an edited fashion to other audience online. Although I have used this one source for analysis, other sources were helpful because they gave be an overview of the topic of discussion and indeed support the thesis statement. Nevertheless, using single source was not effective because it was limited in the content related to the subject matter.
As a solution to this problem, the public should change its cultural stereotype about corporates and the government inability to help them improve their welfare because it is from this pessimism that they lose trust to people they know. On the same note, the government and indeed the private sector should consider expanding their investment activities so that they can employee youths and restore their trust. It is from the restoration of this trust that they will learn how to trust online information and will be presenting reliable information to other audience online.

Conclusion

Based on the investigative analysis above, it is true that online journalism is marred and lacks the element of truth and authenticity. It is true that the increase in the internet usability especially the social media has changed the culture of the audience and hence that of online journalists. Apart from that, most of the online sources have anonymous authors, are easily editable, and are mostly racial bias. The question one seeks to ask is that what does the government or regulator does to mitigate the problem? The information regarding the answer to the question will be sourced from government websites, seek explanation or opinion of experts.

Works cited

Broersma, Marcel. "The Unbearable Limitations of Journalism on Press Critique and Journalism’s Claim to Truth." The International Communication Gazette 72.1 (2010): 21-33. Print.
Demir, Muge. "Importance of Ethic, Credibility and Reliability in Online Journalism." European Journal of Social Sciences 4.1 (2011): 537-44. Print.
Drexler, Peggy. "Millennials: Trust No One But Twitter | TIME.com." Ideas Millennials Trust No One But Twitter Comments. Cornel University, 16 Feb. 2014. Web. 7 Mar. 2015. <http://ideas.time.com/2014/02/16/millennials-trust-no-one-but-twitter/>