What are the 9 Principles of Journalism?
Find out what are 9 journalism principles and how they are important for a career in journalism.
What are the 9 Principles of Journalism?
Journalism is the fourth pillar of democracy. It plays an important role in ensuring that truth is presented in front of audience, people talk about facts, and fake news is removed. To ensure credibility, responsibility, and ethics in journalism, there are 9 principles that a journalist must keep in mind. Check out this article to know about 9 principles of journalism that will help students build a career in journalism and do their jobs better.
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What are 9 Principles of Journalism?
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These are like nine rules that journalists must follow for true news reporting. These principles ensure that audience gets accurate, timely and reliable information. These 9 principles of journalism are given here.
Truth - The first principle of journalism is truth and maintaining accuracy. The basic objective of picking up newspaper in morning or tuning in to news channel at dinner is to know truth. The first job of Journalists is to report truth by verifying information from multiple sources and ensuring accuracy in their reporting.
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Freedom - A paid journalist is just an actor who is reading a script given to him. Journalists must remain free from outside influence, whether from companies, advertisers, governments, or their special interests, while reporting news. They must maintain their independence to report and hold power to account, safeguarding public interest.
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Fairness - While reporting, journalists must present all sides of story. They must provide a balanced approach and share an impartial view with audience by ensuring fairness in their news reporting.
Human Aspect - Journalists must respect dignity, privacy and sensitivity of individuals involved in their news stories. They must hide faces of minors and female victims and must not name them openly to ensure protection. They must exercise empathy and compassion and avoid sensationalism or exploitation of human suffering.
Accountability - There's room for human errors in every profession. In case of such errors, journalists must hold themselves accountable, acknowledge the errors, and correct them.
Transparency - Many journalists work on a simple payroll but earn big amounts from companies, politicians, or PR agencies to report fabricated news. Hence, true journalists must disclose their conflicts of interest and sources of funding to maintain transparency. This transparency enhances credibility and allows audiences to assess the integrity of journalistic content.
Full Control to Editors: The job of an editor in a news organization is very important. All news stories go through their lens, and their decisions should be free from external interference, allowing them to prioritize news based on its relevance to the public interest.
In Public Interest: An additional job of Journalists is to ensure that they consider public interest. Such as what are the government schemes that can benefit students, farmers, or different segments of the audience? They must create detailed reports on matters involving public interest and prioritize stories that have significant social, economic, or political implications, regardless of their popularity or commercial appeal.
Ethical Considerations: Journalists must follow the code of journalism ethics. This code of ethics includes guidelines on accuracy, fairness, privacy, and conflicts of interest. They must uphold the ethical standards to preserve the credibility and integrity of journalism.
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Importance of Journalism Principles
The importance of the above-mentioned principles is important in the following ways.
Upholding Democracy: The first and foremost importance of these principles is to preserve the essence of democracy. Journalism plays a vital role in holding power to account and ensuring transparency in governance, safeguarding the democratic process.
Building Trust: The 9 principles mentioned above of journalism are responsible for upholding principles such as truth, accuracy, and transparency, which foster trust between journalists and their audience, which is indeed essential for the credibility of media organizations.
Apart from the above, the 9 principles of journalism are important as they inform Public Discourse by presenting diverse perspectives and accurate information, they protect vulnerable communities by prioritizing the dignity and privacy of individuals, preventing harm and exploitation, particularly of marginalized or vulnerable communities. It promoted accountability and fostered a culture of transparency in society.
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Nupur Jain started with a passion for educational content writing, which soon grew into a meaningful journey of helping students through reliable guidance. A commerce graduate from Delhi University, she has spent ov
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