My class was posed a question last semester that continues to come back to me: In terms of a news release, is it more important to be the first, or to have all of the information.
The correct answer in that class was always, Yes.
Of course it doesn't make a relevant answer to the question, but the question is one of those that isn't universally accepted either way.
Obviously in our society you have to be first. The moment something is posted, it's considered "old news" on any other site. This is one of the downsides to the newspaper, the sports section is reporting things that I easily read 22 hours before on ESPN, or CNN. In this age of technology we get news from across the world, almost real time. So if you aren't delivering that news first, you're losing your fan base.
But I think that this perspective is awful. Being first is great, getting information is very important. But my generation is lazy. I'd argue that most of the people my age aren't getting the news because they are pursuing it, I'd say they get the news because it's shoved in their faces. There's no way to avoid it, everywhere we go information will find us.
But therein lies the ethical problem with only focusing on being the "first". How many of us will read an article, and if any other headline appears to say the same thing as what we just read, or heard about, we don't bother following up. Why? Because we assume we've already gotten all of the information. And why would not? It seems unethical for a newspaper to report on an issue that it doesn't have all of the information on.
But it happens every day. The constant need to be the first, coupled with the laziness of my generation leads to a massive orgy of half truths and misconceptions. It's irritating to talk to someone who thinks they know "everything" about an issue, when it's a fact that they don't. Or even just to have a conversation with someone who has no idea what is going on in the world around them.
I'm pretty sure the world can wait one more hour to know exactly what happened. I'm pretty sure
haha. you said both "therein" and "massive orgy," i say a successful blog entry.
ReplyDeletealso, not that im really in a position to comment on newspaper articles as i rarely read, but i have to say that i never feel like i have all the information after reading a newspaper article because journalists are masters of vague language and can write 400 words without actually saying anything. booya.
ReplyDeletep.s. i love you and i think you are super awesome and really hot.
also, i was told i could leave anonymous comments. and i think you lied.
ReplyDeleteYou can absolutely leave anonymous comments. You simply go to edit account, and change your name. The problem for you, however, lies in the problem that you cannot leave a post without saying "you are super awesome and really hot". LOL
ReplyDeleteI think articles can "say" something, it's just that more often than not having all the facts isn't the number one concern