Journalistic Integrity: It’s A Hard Thing To Reclaim

By: Megan Furtado
Posted In: Opinion

We Americans thrive on our usage of the First Amendment – the freedom of speech. It’s a right we often take for granted, and one we don’t appreciate until it is taken away. We use our freedom of speech in so many mediums that sometimes it’s difficult to remember we even have that liberty – or worse yet, we abuse it.

It’s a sad truth that journalists are expected to hold themselves to a higher level of integrity than the rest of the population. They are expected to write, print, and broadcast the cold, hard facts – nothing more. If there are no hard facts, then there is no real case. Without a case, there is no story – at least no story that should be on Page One the following day.

As an English major, I’ve had the idea drummed into my head from day one: making up facts is compromising one’s journalistic integrity. It doesn’t matter if the deadline is fast approaching and there isn’t enough information to make a complete story. If this is the case, go out and get the facts. If there are no facts, don’t send the story to print. Doing so will most likely result in being brought up before your editor at the very least – let alone the possibility of a libel suit. Remember Jayson Blair? That should give you a taste of the very least that will happen when facts are made up in order to create a plausible story.

The idea of making up facts isn’t just dishonest, it’s outright lying. The

reason behind it doesn’t matter. As future journalists, we are prepping

ourselves for our readers’ higher expectations. Tomorrow, we’re going to be the writers behind the newspapers we hold in our hands today. Just as we expect the writers of today to give us the honest truth, we shall be expected to uphold that same principal. What we write and how we act is going to influence the writers of tomorrow. Journalistic integrity isn’t an ideal, it’s a reality. And it’s a reality that we have to continue to follow.

It may be a year, two years, three years even, before we English majors enter the journalism world and are put on those lofty pedestals. It’s time to start thinking now about the choices we make, and start making sure we get iron-hard facts. Because your journalistic integrity isn’t something that should ever be sacrificed. It is one thing that, as an English major and more so as a human being, you can’t reclaim. Newspapers may be temporary, but the words we write are forever. Fiction and lies will be found out – and that is when the pedestal falls down and can’t be rebuilt. Your integrity is a precious thing. Don’t lose it.