The internet has opened up new platforms for media; not all of it is trustworthy, but much of it is presented as equal in quality to rigorous, ethical journalism. Information is abundant, and not all of it is correct or taken in context.
With so much information available it is difficult for the average consumer of media to gauge the accuracy of the information they are receiving. Transparency is the most important metric readers can use to access the reliability of their news. Where information is being sourced from, whether it be other news organizations, studies, or interviews, needs to be made clear and accessible for the reader.
But it often isn’t. Journalism is failing to account for new platforms that may not adhere to the same level or journalistic integrity as a full newspaper. Not every website containing news is equal, but there is no limitation on what is under the “news” hashtag on Facebook.
In The Elements of Journalism, Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel discuss the idea of four types of journalism. Traditional print journalism is often seen as the most transparent, and associated with the journalism of verification. Facts are acquired, information is verified, and it is all relayed to the reader.
With much of the information being acquired online, and many articles being published online, this is no longer enough for readers. Journalists should be publishing as much of their original source material as they are able to, to allow for readers to verify context. This was not something possible in print, but is now important to combate accusations of misinformation and bias.
This would lead to a level of transparency that is not present in other media platforms on the internet. Today, much of the discussion around “fake news” relates to the lack of information verification that is present on cable news programs, talk shows, comedy programs, and sensationalist websites. They categorize themselves as news and set a concerning president; the lack of verification plays into the general public’s concerns over “fake news,” or journalism that fails to faithfully verify its facts and the context around its facts before providing those to the public.
The current media landscape is broad, and not all information is of equal quality. Readers have the responsibility to look into the sources journalists provide for their information and be aware of what type of journalistic content they are consuming, because there is no restriction on the hashtag “news.” Journalists need to be more aware of the landscape they are working in, and consider revealing more of their source information then was previously possible in the age of print media.
