PressEthic

Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair: The list goes on and on with a new name added every few weeks. Fabricating and plagiarizing their way to fame, these journalists have altered the media forever. News outlets are under the scrutiny of hundreds of critics, waiting for the next scandal, and a chance to trash the mainstream media. And yet, it continues to happen. Journalists continue to get caught doing the same stupid things. They blame it on deadline pressure, foolish mistakes and even on their sources – yes, I’m talking about Miller. In the end, these scandals have done more than ruin a few journalists’ careers; they have promoted the belief that the mainstream media is corrupt and disingenuous, thus forcing readers to find their news elsewhere.

But, perhaps it’s not all that bad. Perhaps some positive things will happen as a result of all these scandals. At least that’s what William Powers said in this National Journal article.

Powers wrote:

The news business once operated as a kind of private club. Now it behaves more like a public utility in which every news consumer is a stockholder. If the stockholders (through their proxies, the media critics, bloggers, and other press-watchers) push for an investigation of a suspicious news story or journalist, they get it. The outlet under suspicion really has no choice but to obey.

The real lesson of the Times scandal is not that the media are evil. It's that the Age of Media Arrogance is over. The news culture is under the public's thumb. It is more transparent, more answerable for its mistakes, and more likely than ever to clean up its act. Can anyone seriously argue that this is bad news?

I don’t think it is “bad news.” In fact, Powers makes a great point. More than ever, the mainstream media is accountable for its actions.

But, my question is this: When will the mainstream media “clean up its act”? It seems that media scandals are still occurring quite often. And, is it possible for the mainstream media to “clean up its act” while it is forced to cut jobs and lower production costs?

In my opinion, the mainstream media needs to invest in quality control measures if they want to stop journalists who are intent on fabricating and/or plagiarizing, and to catch more errors before they hit newsstands. However, hiring more people is not an option for the majority of the mainstream media – at least newspapers – around the country.

So, as Powers said, the media “is more transparent, more answerable for its mistakes, and more likely to clean up its act.” But, it is still unclear when and how the media will remedy the situation.