Responsibility Begins in the Newsroom

Will all responsible journalists please stand up? If a media outlet publishes a story implying by their wording and the placement of the story that this is “new information,” can this be defined as irresponsible journalism or a newspaper or television station hyping or sensationalizing the news? It’s a difficult call, but sometimes we need to take a hard look not only at what we’re printing or airing but where we place stories in our news lineup.

Some of us are more sensitive to certain news items than others. Consider the honest, hard-working accountants that are painted by the same tainted brush as other Enron employees. Consider also the hardworking, dedicated clergy who have been shocked, embarrassed and maligned because they too wear a Roman collar just as those who have been convicted of child sexual abuse. It’s difficult to separate the honorable from the dishonorable, the fact from the fiction, without the information. That’s where the problem lies, if there is a problem. Some people believe everything they read, see or hear from news media outlets.

Using only one source of media to form any opinion is dangerous. While that source — let’s say newspaper — is presenting its truth, it is slanted to some extent, no matter what a reporter does to give readers “just the facts.” First, a reporter can only include the facts as he or she has them, hears them, or reads them. Can a reporter say categorically, those are “all the facts” for any given topic? Probably not.

The length and the placement of a story slant its content further without anyone even reading it. Is it spread across the front page with a banner headline? That makes it a truly important story in the eyes of the newspaper. Maybe it is; maybe it isn’t, but for that publication, readers are shown that it is. Is this story told as if this information has never been published before? That might make it even more important, even if the information has been published repeatedly in other newspapers.

So many issues, unrelated to any one story, determine whether a story will be seen as important to readers. If the newspaper views the story as less important it won’t appear on the front page. If more than one story is competing for front-page space, it changes the equation again. It isn’t “just the facts” by any stretch of the imagination that determines the importance of a story when editors and publishers go to press. For those of us who work in this business, “just the facts” is just the beginning of the story.