Media responsibility and ethics

Tommy and Selma have created a school newspaper. They’re going to write and report the news just like professional journalists. What’s this? An anonymous email... “Leon has one million lollipops in his locker! He stole them from the school canteen.” Our first story!

Let’s publish it right away! Sounds like a big story, doesn't it? But wait, would a professional journalist print a story like this? Before publishing a story, journalists need to make sure that they have all the facts to avoid reporting fake or untrue stories. The news needs to be as correct as possible.

This means checking sources and making sure they are reliable. Who wrote this email to the school newspaper? How did they get their information? It sounds very unbelievable to steal one million lollipops! These journalists should try to find further evidence before they write the story.

We rely on media - newspapers, websites, television, radio - to get important information about the world. The people who write the news have great power to influence what people think. This power also comes with responsibility. Journalists are responsible for reporting the news in a fair and honest way. To do this, journalists around the world have decided on certain rules and ways to behave when reporting the news.

These are often referred to as media ethics. Selma has her own ideas about this story. She knows that Leon does love lollipops… Everyone has opinions about things. But to be a good journalist, it’s important to rely on facts rather than feelings, and report the news as objectively as possible. It’s not a good idea for journalists to write about people they know personally.

Journalists should present the facts, and then let the audience use those facts to make up their own minds about a story. To make the story more exciting, Tommy might think it’s okay to go into a photo editing app and make a photo of Leon’s locker full of lollipops. But journalists must not trick people to make a story more dramatic. Purposely writing things that are false, or publishing fake photos and videos, gets in the way of reporting the truth. And what about Leon?

Journalists need to think about the people involved before publishing a story. Nothing has been proven! Maybe the real lollipop thief is someone else. Or maybe there was never a lollipop thief, and it was all made up. But if the story is published, people in school will blame Leon.

They might be unkind to him, and call him a thief. Journalists must be careful and check before publishing people’s names, photos, and information. People have rights to privacy. Journalists should not spread unnecessary gossip about people or their private matters. The media is a powerful tool that can influence people’s opinions.

A story full of false information isn’t just misleading, it can be harmful. Lies can make people confused, and affect how they see the world. But not everyone who shares news is a professional journalist. Anyone can write about the news and post their opinions using the internet. But are these people checking the facts?

It’s almost impossible to know. It’s easy to spread false news online, either on-purpose or without even realizing. That’s why media ethics are so important. Now, more than ever, they ensure that people can access news that is accurate and reported responsibly. I made a media ethics poster for our news journalists, we should make sure our reporting is: correct, objective, and truthful about people.

I’m off to interview Leon! Let’s follow these rules and become great journalists!