JOURNALISM TECHNOLOGIES – ASSESSMENT ONE: BLOG POST (1)
1. What are the three most important core values you think journalists must have in today’s world? Why?
Fairness. Integrity. Initiative.
Journalists in the modern world need to have an ever-changing skill-base and core values. They need to embody fairness, integrity and initiative to produce honest and timely stories and educate the public sphere on issues of public interest. Fairness is necessary in terms of representing a talent, victim or story in a transparent and neutral way – telling both sides of the story even if you (as the journalist) agree with just one. Integrity builds on fairness by valuing honesty and full disclosure – acknowledging sources and motives or the self-interest someone (either the talent or the journalist) may have in a story. And lastly – but perhaps most important – initiative is paramount to journalism as a value that enables independence and confidence in your ability. Initiative extends to knowing your audience, your role and your expectations as a journalist and adapting to new and modern concepts.
2. How can those values be useful in approaching digital tools we have today to produce good journalism?
Fairness, integrity and initiative are, in some ways, more necessary now than ever. The modern realms of journalism have made it increasingly easier for every-day people to be journalists, allowing a multitude of content – both good and bad – to be published. Nowadays it is harder to decipher exactly what is fact and what is fiction. It is vital for journalists to uphold such values to ensure that the truth is what comes out on top. Journalist need to be vigilant in showing fairness to their content and to their talents. Contact as many sources as you can, from different backgrounds or parts of the world – use technology to connect with unfamiliar or marginalised communities and get their point of view. Use fact-checking agents to showcase the integrity of your story, use hyperlinks or attachments to show where you received your information – don’t just claim it as your own. And adapt. By adapting to new ways, new technologies and showing initiative in new ways of learning/producing content you will grow as a journalist.
3. How can those values be useful in approaching digital tools we have today to produce good journalism?
Through the Outback (Published 2017)
There is a place beyond the mountains of the Great Dividing Range, lost to the shining lights of Australia ‘s suburban sprawl. Known vaguely, if romantically, as the outback, or the bush, it has no demarcated border but refers to the nation’s vast, sparsely populated interior – 73 percent of Australia’s territory – more than two million square miles – dotted with 5 percent of its 24 million people.
I only recently discovered this piece of journalism but I thought it was worth mentioning as it ties in with the innovative way in which journalism continues to grow. By combining different aspects of media and online journalism the authors have created an interactive and widely explanatory example of journalism. The journalist has also (obviously) gone to great lengths to understand this remote community, visiting the location and talking to locals to paint a picture of exactly what it is like – they have used technology to connect the reader with a landscape or community they may not be familiar with.
