Journalism's first loyalty is to citizens

A recent broadcast at KSL 

There is a new trend of tying the income of journalists to something other than the quality of their journalism.  "Quality factors often make up half or less of the decision criteria.  The bonuses of newsroom executives today are based in large part on how much profit their companies make" (Kovach & Rosenstiel 51).  According to the book, half of them report that a third of their time is spent on business matters rather than journalism.  This fact is one of the key reasons citizens have lost confidence in the press.

Journalism is indeed a business.  And perhaps it is influenced at times by budgets and numbers.  But my research and conclusion is that journalists today, are loyal to and first serve citizens.

In 1986, the founder of the New York Times, Adolph Ochs, was tired of the sensationalism and yellow journalism of William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer.  He concluded that he would offer a truthful and accurate style of journalism.  He published his simple goal:

"to give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect, or interests involved."

Many newspapers at the time reprinted the same or similar statements.  They realized that putting the interest of the audience first was the smartest long-term financial strategy, and newspapers and news organizations follow this today as well.

In the 1999 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and the Committee of Concerned Journalists, they asked, "For whom do you serve?"   70 percent of the journalists placed "audience" as their first loyalty.  Even above their employers, themselves, their profession, or their families.  It is clear how important citizens still are to journalists today.

The book we are reading in class, "the Elements of Journalism," shared a quote from a former newscaster named Nick Clooney, that I thought was particularly profound.

"Whenever I was having a discussion with a general manager or a member of the board of directors, my bottom line was always, 'I don't work for you.  You're paying my check and I'm very pleased.  But the truth of the matter is, I don't work for you, and if it comes down to a question of loyalty, my loyalty will be to the person who turns on the television set," Clooney said.

Examples of journalists who do not follow this code of loyalty are almost always preceded by public rebellions and journalists with ruined careers.  This proves just how seriously loyalty to citizens is taken.

It is my belief that journalists for the most part realize that they work for the citizens they inform.  Without viewers and mutual trust, no one would watch, and their business would die.

"Journalism must reestablish the allegiance to citizens that the news industry has mistakenly helped to subvert.  Yet even this, ultimately, will not be enough.  Truth and loyalty to citizens are only the first two steps in making journalism work.  The next step is just as important: the method that journalists use to approach the truth and convey that method to citizens" (Kovach & Rosenstiel 75).