Thinking Ethics

What will the newsroom look like in the future? My assessment: The newsroom will be smaller and less cohesive. Stories will be written from living room Lazy-Z-Boy chairs rather than loud, hectic newsrooms. But journalists should never forget our commitment to truth and verification, meaning we can write at home, but do our interviews and photo assignments at the actual events, using real sources. A staff law/ethical policy keeping ethical behavior in check is more important than ever now. 

It's been two months since I've blogged about anything, but not because I didn't have anything to say. I just didn't have the time to say it right. 

I've spent the past four months in my grad class learning about journalism ethics. It's a topic that is so misunderstood and underrated. I believe being ethical and knowing what that means is vital to the future of journalism. If you don't trust your news source, then who can you trust? 

Lesson # 1: The difference between bloggers and journalists is this...I don't have to blog if I don't feel like it, but a news source doesn't have that option. A reliable news source has to continually collect the facts and get them right. And if they don't get them right, then they need to admit it. That's being ethical.