Serial Article
DOI |
10.7336/academicus.2010.01.10 |
URL |
https://academicus.edu.al/?subpage=volumes&nr=1 |
Multiple Resolution: |
MR URL |
https://academicus.edu.al |
MR URL |
https://academicus.edu.al/nr1/Academicus-MMX-1-109-119.html |
MR URL |
https://academicus.edu.al/nr1/Academicus-MMX-1-109-119.pdf |
MR URL |
mailto:info@academicus.edu.al |
MR URL |
https://academicus.edu.al/images/front_end/academicus.jpg |
MR URL |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
Acess Indicators: |
|
OA – Open Access |
OA License |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
Full Title English
(eng)
|
Academicus International Scientific Journal |
Publisher (01) |
Academicus International Scientific Journal |
Country of publication |
Albania
(AL)
|
ISSN
|
20793715 |
Product Form |
Printed Journal
(JB)
|
ISSN
|
23091088 |
Product Form |
Online Journal
(JD)
|
Journal Volume Number |
1 |
Journal Issue Date (YYYY/MM) |
2010 / 01 |
Title English
(eng)
|
Journalism and Ethics - Ethics in Journalism in the Era of Prolific Sources |
By (author)
(A01)
|
Diego Minuti |
Affiliation |
ANSA, Italy, Dr. |
Number of Pages |
11 |
First Page |
109 |
Last Page |
119 |
Language of text |
English
(eng)
|
Publication Date (YYYY/MM) |
2010 / 01 |
Copyright |
2010, Academicus |
Abstract Main description
(01)
|
As all other human activities before the advance of technology and thought, the contemporary journalism is also changing,
maintaining, in the meantime, the specificity of its role: to inform, to give everyone the chance to meet people, facts, and
ideas, and then make a personal opinion. But the advent of new technologies has paradoxically made it harder to tell the truth
because the Internet is almost a lazy journalist who knows the computer just to have the whole world within the reach of a
mouse. Having a manifold effect determining the network, it is no longer the man to decide what actually is news, but the
response that it has had on the Net, and then in the world therefore is. The lack of filters on the Net means that everything
that is available to those who use the Web works as or, just for the sake of knowledge, is assumed as the rank of truth –
only to realize, as more frequently happens, that the error is always lurking. The United States, the country that is always
in front of others and its technology, for the vast use they make of it, are perhaps the best example to understand how did
the journalist profession change, but also have soothing forms of security and protection to the reader. The possibility of
having a window permanently open to electronic newspapers that are published in the most remote nooks of the Earth may lead
to the temptation of indulging transgressions. But if you rely on the others’ eyes, you fall in the risk of telling people
not to trust strangers. But when American reporters are wrong, their own newspapers are the first to denounce them. And this
is a sign of how there can not be a great democracy without great press and, therefore, a large press can only be an expression
of a great democracy. One matter of great emphasis, in my opinion, is the negative use, often too casual, that makes the web,
now that almost everything is allowed, even interpret a fact and not merely tell about it. A couple of years ago, most broadcasting
channels around the world showed pictures of a Palestinian and his son trapped in the Gaza Strip, in a shoot-out between Islamic
militants and Israeli soldiers. Eventually, as the cameras transmitted, they both died in front of the objectives of photographers.
Images, as in fact happened, ’’were’’ interpreted by most of the international press, in the sense that their political values
took precedence over reality. That is, the death of the two innocent people ended up in a story bigger than themselves. But
the network should be considered a great opportunity, especially when, as has recently happened during the protests in Iran,
in the absence of a space for official information the journalists had only one source, the Web. Twitter reported that three
people died during the protests. Some sources of information broadcasted that news, some did not. And who broke the news made
a choice that is explained in the trial of the first magnitude. That is why we broke the news; in this way the drama of those
moments could have best been bespoken. What we come up is whether alternative sources of news, such as bloggers and Twitter,
can we rank official. I do have my concerns, others do not, and this debate will obviously continue. When I talk to younger
colleagues trying to explain the need to have only one reference point – the truth – I realize I am saying quite a trivial
thing. There is a fact, and then there is the news. There is what is happening and what then becomes news. These are two elements
that need and should be coincident, but often are not. And here the assessment of fairness and good work of a journalist must
be taken into account: had he been able to tell what was real in fact as it actually or commonly happens in such a profession
or, had he described it and hence has he bowed to other needs. Anyone, who has endured a past in which the lack of freedom
of expression had been almost uncritically accepted, possesses thirst for knowledge, for lore. The journalist is now part
of a mechanism, but should not fall into thinking that he is the most important mechanism. He is a piece of the chessboard
where the interest is far greater than him and where he must stand above the ability of not falling into temptation; to feel
just a part, and not more, who tells the truth. A journalist can create a character, so that he can destroy a person afterwards.
But when something is about to be spilled out, he must not master other than himself and his morals. In a perfect world, the
journalist should not have friends; he should only think and act upon his own head, he should forget his religion, his political
beliefs. Having no masters has always been the dream for most journalists, others’ only reason why they started this profession
is having their master. A world without ethics is not a world. A world without honest journalists, capable of telling the
truth, even at the cost of their lives, is not a world but the kingdom of darkness, pain, not illuminated by the sun of freedom.
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