Loyalty and Journalism

Journalist are first loyal to its citizens which is the main objective of journalism, and are loyal to the rules of journalism in reporting in an ethical way.

In journalism you must be loyal to the company, to yourself, and most importantly to the audience. It is best to present the facts in a way fitting to the story, and not changing the story in a way based on getting a better story to attract mass audiences. It is important to be honest in your writing and not change the facts. Always think of the public best interest and how you can apply those principles of loyalty to journalism.

I found it very interesting in the presentation in class of the loyalty in journalism within the context of the business side and the journalism side which are separate. It's similar to church (news) and state (business)clause. In journalism the news company has the rights to put whatever they want in the paper and provide good journalism quality stories. On the business side their job is to provide revenue for the news company from advertisements, marketing, and investors involved in the paper. As a journalist, you don't want to be told by the business side what to write, and put in each article primarily based on profit revenues. It is not based on that, it is based more on the quality of the paper and if you have good quality news articles you will have a successful news company. But, It is true though if the revenue decreases for a news company, the business side is in charge of the pay roll so they will cut employees, which results in lower quality of journalist. The more employees lost, the lower quality the paper will be. I think they should work together in providing both a loyal and successful news company that provides reliable accurate news to the public.


Tips on having a successful news company:
1. The owner/corporation must be committed to citizens first.
2. Hire business managers who also put citizens first.
3. Set and communicate clear standards.
4. Journalists have final say over the news.
5. Communicate clear standards to the public.

The movie "Good night and Good luck," is a great example, to be loyal in journalism of telling the truth even though it may cost the reporter he's job or the news company. The business side of the news tries to intervene and stop the reporter from publicly airing private information that can shot down the company.



Some Journalist are not loyal to reporting the truth to the people like in this Youtube clip of Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer Video.