With journalism, there is what is known as a code of ethics (sometimes this is also known as canons of journalism). This is a guideline for educated and trained journalists to maintain a self-check system to avoid any conflicts of interest, as well as delving into immoral and unethical means of practice. There are five general rules of thumb for journalists to store in the backs of their minds before involving themselves in an event or story that they feel should be covered for the general public.
The first canon of journalism is honesty, meaning that a reporter or journalist should never fabricate or create facts in order to facilitate the progression of their article. A journalist should strive to fact check all of the information obtained by a source in order to ensure accuracy and truthfulness given by their source before releasing to public eyes. Second, a journalist should avoid topics that they show too much interest in to bypass any adherence to conflicts of interest. Third, a journalist should provide fairness with their coverage, meaning that they should not use the facts that they have gathered in order to succeed in ill-intentioned, hidden agendas. This extends to having the objectivity to provide sources both pro and con to their article to give a well-balanced story for their readers. For all journalists, they have to show productiveness as they are gathering information and facts to deliver a constructive piece of writing to their audiences. Lastly, pride is a thing that journalists have to set aside. A good journalist has to be willing to accept any and all credit and criticism for their work. This demonstrates growth in professionality of a journalist.
Now here are some styles of journalism that are either widely used, unheard of or emerging into the limelight in societies beyond our own:
- Ambush Journalism - This style of journalism was first implemented by Mike Wallace on CBS News' 60 Minutes as one of the original correspondence of the show. This type of journalism was later perfected and polished by Bill O'Reilly on The O'Reilly Factor. What is ambush journalism? This is a practice of aggressive tactics to confront and question unsuspecting individuals that would otherwise not participate in interviews, or provide quotes on an event.
- Celebrity/People Journalism - This type of journalism is often seen in tabloids, such as the National Enquirer, and for the most part but not always, gained by invasive paparazzi and tip-offs from a plethora of sources.
- Churnalism - This is journalism that forms from a second-hand source and is generally an overall synopsis of multiple reporting and press releases. On February 16th of 2011, BBC released an article about Facebook friends relating to levels of stress. This was later regarded as more of a press release rather than journalism due to the lack of any original content.
- Gonzo/New Journalism - As made popular by Hunter S. Thompson, author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, this form of journalism doesn't focus on the traditional methods of reporting but relies itself more on forming a picture. Journalists of this category of reporting do this by installing components of literary fiction into their writing. They illustrate a scene for their audiences and input dialogue in full as opposed to short quotes given by people that have been interviewed. Journalists will also pay attention to even the mundane details of a scene, like the behavior, physical characteristics and family life and friends to flush together a more engaging piece, appealing to the audience's pathos.
- Advocacy Journalism - This type of journalism is subjective and done from a political standpoint, like The Suffragist, founded in 1913 that catered to push for the abolishment of women's suffrage.
- Participatory Journalism - This is journalism done by multiple parties. This can either be a featured piece or one where the audience themselves have the opportunity to gather information to further solidify or challenge the report in question. Any of the articles in any newspaper we have had in Ravenblack would fall under this category - unless comments were prohibited.
With this breakdown, it is my personal hope to break journalists from the preconceived notion of what they need to be. Without personal touches to their work, there is little desire to employ an entire staff, if the writing itself will be along the lines of the same, monotonous template. We, as a collective group of journalists, strive to benefit our readers. I ask all of you, are there any methods that particularly engage you more and why? What types of journalism do you put your trust in more than others? Are there methods not listed that you would like to see, or ones that you prefer not to see?
This is your paper, so voice the change that you want to see.