by Lia Davis

Journalism is a career that forces you to always remain on the clock. You must maintain a level of awareness at all times for local, national and even international news and events. We are faced with ethical problems in our work and personal life, and must make decisions on a daily basis. We must also be aware of the choices we make and the messages that these choices are sending out. How can we determine when we will take on our role as citizen versus our role as a journalist? Is it possible to do your job as a journalist, while also staying true to who you are as a citizen?

An issue that journalists are faced with that could create an ethical problem is voting. The idea of voting in a primary is making known your preference for one party over another. Some journalists choose not to vote because it could lead to seeming bias. It is important to stop and think about whether or not these choices and preferences you make in your personal life could be translated to your professional life. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with voting as long as that bias does not translate into your work. You should only state the facts and nothing more. But besides reporting on the facts, it is our duty to remain objective. If we cannot remain objective then we cannot truly do our job. The decisions we make in circumstances like this can affect how our audience will receive us.

But as journalists where do we draw the line between what is personal and what is political? Openly campaigning for someone, in my opinion, is a political decision, whereas voting seems to be more of a personal decision. Campaigning would put your opinion in the public eye, so how can you expect your audience to know that your bias is removed from your work when your political opinion is public. Voting is different because you are not publicly broadcasting what you are doing, but instead making the decision to say I am a citizen so I am going to use my right to vote. In our Advanced Reporting class, we talked about if someone was to go back and pull one of your primary ballots, and Carol Marin brought up an important point when she said that she has voted both Democratic and Republican. You should vote for the person and what they stand for and not a specific party.

It is possible to do your job as a journalist while also staying true to who you are as a citizen. In this age of “fake news” it is important now more than ever to be a trusted source of information that people can rely on. Your credibility should be the sole focus of why you make the decisions that you do. There should be a line drawn between being a journalist and being a private citizen. Being a journalist means that majority of the time your duties are different than any other person’s, and that your personal opinion should never cross over into your work.  As journalists we have to remember that we are also human, but we have to work even harder to keep our bias out of our work.

or local, national and even international news and events. We are faced with ethical problems in our work and personal life, and must make decisions on a daily basis. We must also be aware of the choices we make and the messages that these choices are sending out. How can we determine when we will take on our role as citizen versus our role as a journalist? Is it possible to do your job as a journalist, while also staying true to who you are as a citizen?

An issue that journalists are faced with that could create an ethical problem is voting. The idea of voting in a primary is making known your preference for one party over another. Some journalists choose not to vote because it could lead to seeming bias. It is important to stop and think about whether or not these choices and preferences you make in your personal life could be translated to your professional life. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with voting as long as that bias does not translate into your work. You should only state the facts and nothing more. But besides reporting on the facts, it is our duty to remain objective. If we cannot remain objective then we cannot truly do our job. The decisions we make in circumstances like this can affect how our audience will receive us.

But as journalists where do we draw the line between what is personal and what is political? Openly campaigning for someone, in my opinion, is a political decision, whereas voting seems to be more of a personal decision. Campaigning would put your opinion in the public eye, so how can you expect your audience to know that your bias is removed from your work when your political opinion is public. Voting is different because you are not publicly broadcasting what you are doing, but instead making the decision to say I am a citizen so I am going to use my right to vote. In our Advanced Reporting class, we talked about if someone was to go back and pull one of your primary ballots, and Carol Marin brought up an important point when she said that she has voted both Democratic and Republican. You should vote for the person and what they stand for and not a specific party.

It is possible to do your job as a journalist while also staying true to who you are as a citizen. In this age of “fake news” it is important now more than ever to be a trusted source of information that people can rely on. Your credibility should be the sole focus of why you make the decisions that you do. There should be a line drawn between being a journalist and being a private citizen. Being a journalist means that majority of the time your duties are different than any other person’s, and that your personal opinion should never cross over into your work.  As journalists we have to remember that we are also human, but we have to work even harder to keep our bias out of our work.

 

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