"A Study in News Media Ethics," Reflection Essay

Excerpt #1:

The theme of this next reflection will focus upon the corporate culture of the media and concentration of ownership over media outlets. More specifically, this reflection will provide an exploration of the trends within corporate media organizations as well as the dangers of corporate influences and how it could affect journalistic values such as social responsibility, objectivity/bias or an ethical professional code of conduct. For the purposes of better understanding the effects corporate giants have on journalistic ethics, it is necessary to briefly explore the transition of concentration of ownership in the media over time as well as provide an overview to the structure of corporate ownership. The latter portion of the essay will focus upon how the corporate culture and concentration of ownership in media organizations affect journalistic ethics. Specific cases will be used to illustrate the ethical sacrifices journalists have made for the benefit of the corporate executives.

Excerpt #2:

For the purposes of determining if any ethical values have been compromised by the corporate culture of news organizations, it will be useful to first identify the set of journalistic values which will be used to measure this inquiry. Kovach and Rosenstiel assert that journalists have an allegiance to citizens that we have come to call journalistic independence and that this independence is a sort of social obligation which at times overrides corporate employers’ immediate interests (The Elements of Journalism, 53). I will use Lambeth’s five journalistic duties- truth-telling, justice, freedom, humanness and stewardship- as a guide to determine if the corporate culture affects the quality of journalism (Class notes/Discussion). The deontological method will be useful in this analysis as it is concerned with duty or more specifically, a set of moral laws with which to abide regardless of the situation. In other words, a journalist has certain duties while practicing journalism regardless of who employs him or her. I would also like to add three extra duties identified by author and contributor to the Poynter Institute, Geneva Overholser, which are accountability, objectivity and professionalism (Action Steps: Ensuring that Journalism in the Public Interest Survives). Ben Bagdikian argued in The Media Monopoly, “Narrow control, whether by government or corporations, is inherently bad. In the end, no small group, certainly no group with as much uniformity of outlook and as concentrated in power as the current media corporations, can be sufficiently open and flexible to reflect the full richness and variety of society’s values and needs. … The answer is not elimination of private enterprise in the media, but the opposite. It is the restoration of genuine competition and diversity” (223-224). The concern in terms of ethical journalistic values centers upon the significant lack of diversity and the prevalence of bias within news reports. Anup Shah goes so far as to claim that since so many of the large media owners are entertainment companies, broadcast journalism and much of print journalism, as well as the book publishing industry, are increasingly criticized for having become appendages to entertainment empires (Media Conglomerates, Mergers, Concentration of Ownership, Global Issues.org).
Lack of diversity fueled by corporate culture of news organizations and concentration of ownership deeply impacts ethical journalism in that it forces journalists many times to choose between getting their paychecks and producing responsible, ethical journalism. The duty of accountability to the public becomes close to non-existent when journalists work in such an environment where management disregards what is good for the public as a whole and instead, promotes its own personal agendas. Journalists remain accountable to produce work which reflects corporate interest and the people no longer have a voice. Objectivity is deeply affected in that news reports produced within these corporate news organizations are shaped to fit whatever idea makes the company more money. If a chain of news organizations is owned by a conservative, it may consistently use different sources and contributors than a liberal news organization. Professionalism is blatantly decreased among journalists working in corporate news organizations for many reasons including a failure to establish an independent council to track, promote, define independent news function in U.S. journalistic standards are also swept under the rug in a manner that allows executives to dictate the structure of the journalism being published at that specific time. Lambeth’s five journalistic duties take a major blow as corporate control of the media becomes more prevalent. As we have seen earlier, many journalists working in these news organizations are not being asked for any input, they are simply assigned what to do and how to do it while always keeping in mind the company’s well-being. This translates into potentially slanted stories used by media owners as a means of getting a private agenda across to its public audience, usually for some monetary or political gain. Duties such as truth-telling, justice, freedom, humanness and stewardship are sacrificed essentially for individual greed. It seems that journalists are reluctant to stand against this horrific trend in order to protect the ethical values and responsibilities that they owe to their public audience.

Excerpt #3:

One positive aspect to this seemingly dim trend in journalism is that we as future journalists can fight for reform and regulations which would help to ensure an independent and socially responsible press. After extensive research, it is apparent that the journalistic duty most harmed by the prevailing corporate culture and concentration of ownership is the idea of journalistic independence. If the reporting and writing of a certain news organization reflects solely those views projected by management and corporate owners, journalists sacrifice duties such as truth-telling, justice, freedom, objectivity, accountability to the public and so on. This issue threatens the ethical and moral quality of current and future journalism and those who desire to work in the field. Geneva Overholser suggests in her article “Action Steps: Ensuring that Journalism in the Public Interest Survives,” that news organization should take the responsibility to create networks to enhance effectiveness such as conducting annual self-audits and making the results public. One media outlet which serves as a perfect example of this concept and role model for other news organizations is the Guardian Newspapers Limited in the United Kingdom. In 2002, the paper responded to the challenge of developing a new relationship with its readers when it launched a major effort in transparency, creating an annual audit called “Living Our Values” (The Elements of Journalism, 68). According to Kovach and Rosenstiel, “Rather than presenting the company as two separate organizations, the Guardian audit describes how the values shared by the business and the news sides combine to serve a public interest” (The Elements of Journalism, 69). As shown in this example, the corporate culture of the news organization helped to serve the public interest rather than to bring down the ethical and social responsibility journalists have to their public audiences. Journalists should not be reporting and writing to entertain or amuse the public; they play a very important role in our democratic society creating open and public discourse and keeping the public informed on a regional, national and global basis. It is the duty of a journalist to report in a manner that is honest, just, independent, humane and to hold themselves accountable as professionals. It is very important for news organizations to work together to support universal standards for journalism which should include: the owner/corporation must be committed to citizens first, hire business managers who also put citizens first, set and communicate clear standards, journalists must have the final say over news and finally communicate clear standards to the public (The Elements of Journalism, 70-73).
I feel strongly and agree with Geneva Overholser that journalists should assume a responsibility for speaking out on behalf of viable and independent media as individuals and through organizations. Without a free, honest and independent press, the future of our democracy is in jeopardy as the focus of the press becomes a sort of “dog-eat-dog”, self-centered business obsessed with money and politics.