Standard-Barrier

The Code of Ethics from the Society of Professional Journalists are both ideal and inspirational. It is a code that is vital for our public democracy to truly exist in its true form. One of the basic foundations of American Journalism arose from the colonists, who fought for independence first with their words. Although their journalism did not follow the Code of Ethics, it served the ultimate purpose for its citizens; freedom. Between the colonial days, and today American Journalism has treaded a long path embarking its purpose in history while embedding itself in our society’s way of life. But, we have to ask ourselves how well are journalists adhering to the ethical standards at the present?

Today, the news media has mostly negative connotations for numerous reasons as it fails to abide by the ethical rules. The citizens have an all time low trust in the media itself. The mainstream media is firstly controlled by many corporate giants making it almost impossible for their employed journalists to act and write independently. The celebrity frenzy along with the numerous incomprehensive news give the “good journalist” a bad name tarnishing their reputation. Out of all the Code of Ethics the rules to act independently is probably the most challenging in today’s money driven social order. Since everyone who starts at the bottom cannot be like Charlie Rose, should young journalist just blog their lives out of spotlight to act truly independently? Well, that’s a catch 22, and no one said it was easy sticking to ethical standards.