Philosophy of Journalism

Journalism in the modern world is one of the primary practices which is essential for the common knowledge of the people. Journalists all over the world try hard to report and uncover the truth of mysterious cases, be it political, social, economic or environmental. The hardships and difficulties that the journalists face in the process are unimaginable. However, between all these hardships it is essential for the journalists to maintain a code of conduct and abide by the philosophy of journalism in order to do justice to the noble profession that they do. In today's world there is a tendency for the journalists to delve deep into the matter of the fact and develop the stories with details and facts. However, in doing so, the journalists should abide by the moral obligations and uphold their responsibilities towards the society as a priority over the entertainment factor.

The question of obligation of the media personnel are raised in this context. It is very hard to determine that in today's world whether they are obliged to the media houses they work for or to the public. According to Kant's means to an ends' ideology media can be related to ethics, where the great philosopher is of the idea that no person should be used for the purpose of benefits for another person (Côt©, Piff and Willer 2013). In this context it can be related to the ethics of journalism. Today it is a known fact, that many eminent journalists have been reported to use unethical means to fabricate their stories or use unethical ways to make up stories to cater to the entertainment factor of the general reader. This goes against the ethics of journalism. If Kant's philosophy is to be considered, then it can be said that journalists should limit themselves to the reporting of the true facts and leave the choice of decision in the hands of readers (Stein 2016). It is improper according to Kant's theory for a journalist to take advantage of the situation and fabricate the news accordingly to influence the readers. The breach in the ethics is against the philosophy of journalism. Secondly, comes the truth telling part of journalism.

The true purpose of journalism is to report the truth to the general public (Allen and Hindman 2014). However, if looked upon ethically, truth-telling can be done in a number of ways. Now in the notion of journalism, it is to be stated that a journalist should report the entire truth in an unbiased manner without hiding any facts. According to Kant's philosophy, truth is a universal law, which is imperative for the knowledge of all. The philosophy of journalism is also true for all (Marcuse 2013). It can be seen that journalism can be defined by different ethics but from the above discussion it can be concluded that the two most important ethics are to present an unbiased report and also to present the entire truth and leave the decision making to the readers. References: Allen, D.S. and Hindman, E.B., 2014. The media and democracy: Using democratic theory in journalism ethics. The ethics of journalism: Individual, institutional, and cultural influences, pp.185-203. C??t©, S., Piff, P.K. and Willer, R., 2013. For whom do the ends justify the means? Social class and utilitarian moral judgment. Journal of personality and social psychology, 104(3), p.490. Marcuse, H., 2013. Reason and revolution. Routledge. Stein, A., 2016. Journalism and Ethics. In Real-World Media Ethics (pp. 169-183). Focal Press.

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