Lately, I have been thinking of journalistic integrity. I have been blogging since 2002 and while I am not a journalist per se, I feel that it is necessary that I hold myself to the same standards. That is why I choose to follow these headers from the Society of Professional Journalists:
Why do I feel this way? There are so many blogs/forums/rags that exist as nothing more than a forum to spew forth bad news and harm others. We are living in a society that is fueled by sensationalism. However, in an effort to sensationalize, have we lost brevity regarding our behavior?
It is becoming easier to conduct peer-to-peer manipulation as time goes on. How? We used to have centralized media outlets. Now there are a multitude of sources not internally governing their reporting in what feels like an attempt to create a social war between the uneducated average American and people who have a more accurate world view.
What do we do? There isn’t a lot–unless you want to infringe on our rights as American citizens to freedom of speech. However, I feel that it is more a matter of self-worth, self-control and respect for others.
Where is our consideration for our fellow man? Why do we feel that every one’sprivate life is fodder for public consumption? Why this insatiable lust?
Some of these I can’t answer, but I can opine. Celebrity is a mysterious world where people want an inside view. A look at what the other side does. The more private they try to be, the more their adoring (obsessed?) public want to know. For some of celebrities, I blame it on themselves. After all, there are plenty of ways of getting out of a car and not flashing the entire world. The paparazzi can pay their bills for an entire year on one of those shots if sold.
Quite honestly, I don’t watch a lot of the evening news on television anymore. I used to turn it on every evening, like clockwork, after dinner to find out what was going on in my local area and the world. However, if you aren’t reporting the news, I am not going to watch you. I quit watching during the entire Britney Spears divorce/bi-polar/meltdown debacle. When you local television stations are giving you breaking news for this and other celebrity skirmishes, it’s time to turn it off.
What do I do now? I read local news online, listen to NPR or ABC News Radio, and watch BBC World News. I’m not perfect, but I still try to avoid as much “noise” and subjection to bad media as possible.
My promise to myself is to try and always “keep it real”. For my sanity…and yours.
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