Response to 10 Elements of Journalism Discussion

The majority of journalists strongly believe in the ten elements of journalism and follow through with them, or they at least strive towards these expectations. Disregard for their importance is, believe it or not, dangerous. Truth, loyalty, verification, independence, watchdog, forum, make the important interesting, inclusive, room for dissent, and analyzation are the ten elements that in the opinion of many are of utmost importance. It is dangerous when these are not given attention because of the inevitable consequences. For example, if journalists were not independent, or separate from certain groups, we would have biased news outlets. If we did not have verification, or multiple sources/witnesses and objective methods, we would not be able to trust our news outlets. If we did not have the truth, well I think it is obvious what would happen in that situation. My point is that lack of participation in each and every one of these elements would be consequential. A large amount of the American public will not question the validity of the news making them oblvious to bias and lack of truth. I am not saying that our country is plagued with dishonesty. In fact this is a bold, biased, false, and an uneducated statement, but I am saying that if a single news story has a lack of sources and witnesses, or an article has one unchecked fact we are not being loyal to our public. Fox News is most often told from a conservative viewpoint and this fact is widely acknowledged, however I don't believe there should be any left or right wing news outlets. If all of our news outlets were unbiased the public would have no choice but to make up their own opinion. In my opinion the greatest resposibility of a journalist is to present citizens with independent and truthful news so that they can come up with their own independent, ideas, thought processes, and opinions. 

-Guinn