Thursday, August 2, 2007

Just what is a Journalist??

Trying to figure out what the "typical" journalist is in todays society is a daunting task. Long gone are the days a journalist was describe as someone who wrote for either print or broadcast and if you wanted to find out the news you just picked up a newspaper or turned on the radio. These days a journalist could be described as something a little more complex. According to the new code of ethics,

"Journalists describe society to itself. They convey information, ideas and opinions. They search, disclose, record, question, entertain, comment and remember. They inform citizens and animate democracy. They give a practical form to freedom of expression. They scrutinise power, but also exercise it, and should be responisble and accountable. (MEAA 1999)

So in taking what this says, a journalist is really a multi-tasking messanger to society. With technology invading our ever changing work places a journalists job becomes a multi-branching effort to move from broadcast throught to digital to the recent phenomenon of Internet Journalists or the preffered name of "citizen journalist".

Internet Journalism is an interesting concept but is this really the new wave in media forms? Do most people source out there news through traditional mediums or the newer ones. All in all, and apart from this a Journalists task is to deliver news, enetertainment and so forth. But do they really potray what society should know or wants to hear? I found this quote whilst looking over different people perceptions of a journalist and found it quite humourous and somewhat truthful.

``Good journalists pursue truth; great journalists communicate it with grace. Legends do it every week.''

I s it a journalists job to make sure society knows the truth or knows part of the truth? Richardson (Tapsal & Varley: 10) suggests that "good journalists also have a hungerto get information, a hunger to find out the truth..to always get more."

In my opinion a journalist is the key to the information we know. If you think about it, most world known media cases are only potrayed to us through journalists eyes. The Iraq War, for example, is only perceived to us through the media, and most of us know no other than what we have been told.

What do u percieve a journalist to be?

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