Increasingly widespread access to new technologies and mass media has fundamentally altered the way people communicate. The change to the media environment also impacts how journalists fulfill their professional, ethical responsibilities. This highlights the significance of responsible journalism – especially with regards to citizen’s lives today
In the current digital era, it is now up to journalists and readers alike to separate fact from fantasy in texts of all varieties. However, responsibility for this task falls on media professionals who are producing content with traditional or online mediums.
These individuals should consider what they introduce into their work; including the language used as well as its message being conveyed–if a story isn’t true, why would anyone want to read about it?
This has led initiatives like that championed by BBC News Online’s Reality Check series which aims “to get beyond misleading headlines” via critical inquiry into facts surrounding any given issue at hand (BBC). The Guardian also provides an example through “Checking Claims,” where reporters will investigate whether specific statements made are accurate enough before
They selected relevant activities to reinforce a variety of approaches to journalistic and production skills and created terminology and guidelines for each. These activities have been trialed in pilot sessions in Spain, Ireland, Austria and Germany . All information will now be transcribed into three languages in the final stage of the project:
German (the partner country), Spanish (a language spoken by many journalists) as well as English so it can reach further than other countries across Europe . This online platform is accessible to everyone who has an internet connection which makes learning about different cultures easier for people around the world too!
An Example:
Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) said there will be no meeting with banks to discuss the currency fall. This is after several news websites reported that Turkey was going to hold talks with banks on Saturday about its current economic crisis, caused by a drop in value of the Lira against foreign currencies like Euros or Dollars. The reports were interpreted as possible evidence that Turkey might switch over from an open rate system where it has free trade without regulation into some form of capital control which would seize accounts at any sign they are being used for illegal purposes – though this isn’t confirmed yet. Needless-to-say these rumors generated great amounts worry amongst citizens who found themselves unable to complete basic transactions due to their low balance because all ATM’s only
The recent story about the events in Syria did not cause a true panic. But it can be seen as an early warning sign of what is coming next, when copy paste methods are no longer enough to keep people informed with news from all over the world and every newspaper must think for itself instead of just copying off another publication’s website blindly. A single bad rumor on one site could hurt credibility but if many different major newspapers echo that same false information across their platforms then disaster may ensue quickly
Journalists can be manipulated by sources with a stake in seeing the Turkish economy crash. This is because journalists need good sources to get inside information, but should always use caution when approaching them.
The future is an unknown, but what it holds should be a positive. Let’s not give up hope and let our actions turn today into yesterday by being those who lost the battle to make tomorrow better than we found it.
