The Boy Who Cried Fox; Independence Issues

The Boy Who Cried Fox; Independence Issues
By: Ellie Thornsbury

Would you be willing to completely trash all of your ideas, morals, and beliefs just to make an extra buck? Apparently, Fox News would.

In Journalism 1, we have been focusing on what makes "good journalism". There are many elements that make up good journalism, but one of the most important is Independence; siding with the truth. Mr. Miller often uses Fox News as a bad example of these standards. He claims that if Fox News discovered that they could make more money by switching to a liberal network, they would.

This statement left me completely dumbfounded. How can a news organization, responsible of providing the public with a trustworthy, full coverage report of the news, be concerned with appealing to a certain group of viewers? Journalists are supposed to write about things they're passionate about, and attempt to make a change through their reporting.

This would be an example of a Populist news organization. Populists main concern is to appeal to a specific audience to get high ratings and make money. Its hard to believe that some news outlets are more concerned with entertaining than informing.

Journalists have a right to investigate, advocate, and inform, and yet some are letting ratings and views control their voice.