How to Hold Mainstream Media Accountable with Social Media

In the past, the mainstream media was used purely to manipulate the public into doing what the state wanted them to do, whether it was in their best interests or not. No one ever fact check’s the fact checkers do they.. So, a journalist who was given a narative to push, would simply push it, so they could earn a living.

A journalists ability to earn a living will always be more important to them, than reporting on the facts, the incentive structure is set up that way.

Throughout history, journalists would report falsehoods that would quite often result in death, and the destruction of their reader’s lives. The idea that journalistic integrity is a real thing, is simply false.

There is a direct incentive for a ”journalist” to report whatever narrative their boss wants them to report on, no matter what the consequences are to their audience.

Every mainstream media company is funded by someone or something. Especially when people like myself are on social media competing with the mainstream media. This makes it ever increasingly difficult for the mainstream media business model to make a profit. In fact, most lose money.

If a media company is losing money, do you think that a politician or proxy for a politician would love to use this media company to manipulate people into voting for them? Well, you know what I think.

Media, especially the field of journalism has witnessed a huge leap in progress since its emergence. Initially, press was authoritarian, it only pushed out propaganda for the state, things haven’t changed much, except that we are more aware of it now.

This meant that in the past, not everyone had access to the mainstream media. Only the elite of a particular society could access and manipulate media. Eventually, with the rapid expansion of the field, and increasing awareness among the public through social media, journalism evolved from being controlled by a certain elite group of people to becoming more independent and people oriented. This is only due to people like myself who use social media to fact check the mainstream media and try keep the power of governments in check.

Today, many social media platforms are available wherein people can publish their opinions and report on the news. This has led to various channels of journalism such as citizen journalists taking to social media to report on what’s going on.

Here are a few more articles on the mainstream media and their lies:

How To Keep The Mainstream Media Honest?

Media, especially the field of journalism has witnessed a huge leap in progress since its emergence. Initially, press was authoritarian, it only pushed out propaganda for the state, things haven’t changed much, except the fact that we are more aware of it now.

This meant in the past, not everyone had access to the mainstream media. Only the elite of a particular society could access and manipulate media to meet their own ends.

Eventually, with the rapid expansion of the field, and increasing awareness among the public through social media, journalism evolved from being controlled by a certain elite group of people to becoming more independent and people oriented. Sure it’s more transparent than the past, but they are still using every dirty trick in the book, to gain back their ability to brainwash the public.

This is only due to people like myself who use social media to fact check the mainstream media and try keep the power of governments in check.

Today, many social media platforms are available wherein people can publish their opinions and report on the news. This has led to various channels of journalism such as citizen journalists taking to social media to report on what’s going on.

What’s The Definition of Journalism?

It is a broad term that includes many forms of news and other non-fiction writing. I guess that means that anyone who can convince their audience that they are reporting the ”truth” can be a journalist.

It’s basically a field that creates reportage of the current news events and offers it to the public. It is the largest institution that creates and develops news on various platforms.

A journalist is responsible for observing events and creating news to engage the public. In the new world, anyone who witnesses a major incidence can develop news. However, there are some rules and regulations put forward in order to maintain discipline in such a vast field. The issue here is, the vast majority of what the mainstream media reports cannot be held accountable in anyway.

The only institution capable of keeping the mainstream media honest, and putting in place safeguards is the government. And the government has an incentive to prevent criticism of the mainstream media, as the mainstream media is acting on behalf of the government. Very rarely do institutions investigate themselves.

Each country has a different set of obligations to keep its journalistic integrity intact. China has only one rule, do what we say and think what we tell you to think. In a country like the USA, everyone is under constant criticism, which keeps everyone accountable, even though it can be quite abusive, tending towards cyberbullying. But, I’d rather have the USA model over the Chinese model any day.

What is Journalistic integrity?

Journalistic integrity is a broad term for the code of ethics and conduct to which every journalist is obliged. The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) has a journalist code of ethics that consists of these rules and regulations.

MEAA believes that the journalists create the reflection of the community. Right to true and correct information are the most important fundamentals of journalism. According to MEAA, the code of ethics has three main principles. These are:

  • Honestly
  • Fairness
  • Independence

MEAA states that any person who is allied to journalism must abide by these three principles. In addition, there are several sub-clauses to ensure the integrity of journalists with other authorities and the public. These clauses include:

  1. Honesty and fairness when it comes to providing information, disclosing all important facts to be known, not hiding any detail and being open for critique
  2. A journalist should be biased or opinionated including any personal comments towards any race, nationality or ethnicity.
  3. Acknowledging the source and respecting his/her privacy.
  4. Excluding one’s personal interest and opinions in order to maintain accuracy and honesty in the information
  5. Disclosure of conflicts regarding any issue to the society.
  6. Not using any commercial and advertising tools in the news.
  7. Obtain news through fair and honest means that do not breach anyone’s personal boundaries and exploit his or her vulnerability.
  8. Provide information in all possible mediums including video, audio photographs, clippings, CCTV footage, etc.
  9. Produce original and un-plagiarised work
  10. Respect one’s privacy and do not exploit it
  11. Strive to create fair work.

Apart from these clauses, the Australian press council has stated mentioned standards of practice that need to be reviewed by all the journalists and bodies representing the general public.

Well, are these codes really being practised?

With the emergence of many big commercial news agencies, there arises a question of how often are these ethics seen in the news today? In recent times, news had been witnessing manipulation by some big news organizations and other authorities thus exploiting the code of media ethics.

The ideal of “free press” is being exploited and manipulated largely. So, who is responsible for press manipulation? Mostly, the news agencies led by governmental organizations bend, twist, and turn the information and then publish it to the public. In one of the articles which I recently read on a news, the platform claims journalism to be turning more into Public Relations.

Journalists are trying to persuade the audience by their bias and opinions more than by providing pure information. This has caused harm to the code of ethics thus loosening the so-called journalistic integrity. The picture of journalism is shifting from being pure, unbiased to being more opinionated and pre-influenced.

There’s a real need to change this conception. But how is this possible? With the rapidly changing world, there is a necessity to bring some major evolution in the concept of journalistic integrity. Journalism should be saved from turning into commercial advertising platform influenced by authorities. However, there is also emergence of many independent news forums where citizens can provide news to the world. It is understandable that the notion of “free and unbiased press” is too idealistic in this world but is not impossible.