Situation Definition
Mark Russell, the executive editor of Memphis Commercial Appeal, has profound experience in journalism and has been a journalist for over 30 years. During his lecture “How Journalism Can Recapture Its Mojo”, he pointed out that trust in journalism has declined, so we need to remind the public of the value we hold and take measures to win back the public’s trust.
Based on Mark Russell’s explanation, he mentioned that journalists could “stay ground on their values” by remaining transparent and focusing on diversity in journalism.
Analysis
In order to provide possible solutions to win back the public’s trust, Mark Russell raised the idea of transparency. Transparency could enable the audience to better understand the industry and build a connection with journalists. Engagement is crucial for the audience to believe in the credibility of journalists because the audience will also become a part of the process.
In an article found at Ebsco, the author Matthias Revers provides a full analysis of Twitter, and most importantly, he presents refreshed perceptions on how transparency could impact journalism. According to Revers’s description of professional controls, a news account “draws its authority exactly from its opaqueness” (Revers, 2014, p.808).
Revers continues to explain that transparency requires the opposite of professional controls and helps journalists “draw power from revealing how it materializes, who produces it, and under what circumstances” (Revers, 2014, p.808). Reading and understanding are an interactive process; the audience will have faith in reports and news when they know what methods journalists use and how journalists reach their final conclusion. Moreover, the article uses the idea of participatory transparency to show why Twitter has been successful in journalism. Revers points out that social media, such as Twitter, allow journalists to interact with their audience and implicitly “invite others to get involved in the news production process” (Revers, 2014, p.808). Russell also described that journalists could use their advantages, such as technology, to reach their readers. Journalists should be open about their process and convince their audience with tenable evidence.
Furthermore, during Mark Russell’s lecture, he said that “you cannot cover a community unless you reflect on it”. This sentence illustrates another significant focal point in today’s journalism. Diversity could help audience build trust with journalists on a daily basis, and it could lead to authenticity. It is also an important aspect of winning back the public’s trust.
A scholarly paper found at Ebsco presents that “diversity is not an ethical issue. It is an issue of representing your community” (Uriarte, Valgeirsson, 2015, p.406). Indeed, the community is the key word here, because journalists first need to commit to the public and believe that their missions include others too. According to “Four Steps to Strengthening Journalism’s Role in Our Democracy”, when we “accept our role as serving the public’s information needs, we need include all of the public” (Oreskes, 2016, p.38). Journalists should blend themselves into the public and view different circumstances from different perspectives to consider all aspects of the public.
Conclusion
After listening to Mark Russell’s lecture and researching other credible sources, I believe that transparency and diversity are the most two important concepts for journalists who feel the need to get journalism back to previous ages and win back the public’s trust
Russell said that “46 percent news organization make up stories on Donald Trump during the campaign”. The data are astonishing and the need to win back the public’s trust is rising. Transparency could enable the audience to interact directly with journalists and have a better understanding of how journalists work. Diversity promotes journalists to consider all of the public and avoids journalists of focusing on only one variety. By putting diversity in an important position, journalists could be closer to the audience and increase audience’s trust on them.
References
Revers, M. (2014). The Twitterization of News Making: Transparency and Journalistic Professionalism. Journal of Communication,64(5), 806-826. Retrieved March 23, 2018, from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=cdd9a2c2-71d4-47d1-bd36-7b0ee8ef98be@sessionmgr4010&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=98716162
Oreskes, M. (2016). Four Steps to Strengthening Journalism’s Role in Our Democracy. Reporting for an Oral Culture,70(4), 36-39. Retrieved March 23, 2018, from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=65bec698-ea4f-4cb5-aa14-5cfd49365f73@sessionmgr4006&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=ufh&AN=120420709
Bodinger-de Uriarte, C., & Valgeirsson, G. (2015). Institutional Disconnects as Obstacles to Diversity in Journalism in the United States. 9(3), 400-417. Retrieved March 23, 2018, from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=c9d3e2c1-d578-4cc1-b3a0-3e6abef3552a@sessionmgr4006&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=ufh&AN=102270341