Background of the Elements of Journalism

The Committe of Concerned Citizens, is a group made up of Journalists who were deeply concerned about downward spiral of their profession and the what the future might hold for journalism. With so many changes taking place affecting journalism such as the emergence of technology,conglomeration, and globalization, This group of journalists felt that journalism needed to go back to the basics and reestablish the original jounalistic standards and principles necessary for the reemergance of a stronger and goal-driven journalism.
1)Obligation to the truth: Journalism has had along debate as to the definition of truth. Is it reporting the news accurately, or does the obligation to the truth include other factors? The truth is not simply to report the news, but to dig deeper into stories and provide the public with the best possible tools to make an informed decision.
2)Loyalty to the public: With the increased number of mergers and buyouts by corporations, the loyalty of the journalist is in question. The journalist's loyalty was intended to the general public and its well being only. With these mergers, journalists have to answer to the bosses' wishes more so than to the public,because corporate loyalty is not to the citiazens but to profit. The interference of business has caused a significant problem and an impediment on the work of any journalist.
3)Verification: Is very important process by which all journalist much abide. This process has been affected by the changes that technology brought to society, which in a way deleted the need for a journalist to physically verify a source rather than using the internet to gather information. Objectivity in verfying the news and the need to keep a journalist's personal biases out of the way have also presented a problem. Also transparency and truthfulness to sources is another important issue in verifying the news.
4) Independence from those a journalist covers: The main argument is that journalists should be completely loyal to the truth and only the truth, rather than objectivity or neutrality. Journalist can benifit from those he/she covers if the journalist has worked for that particular group in the past, i which case the journalist's ability and contacts that enable him/her to get to the truth are vastly improved.
5)Monitoring the powerful: This role is a watchdog role that represents an important obligation of the press towards the public. It doesnt only include monitoring a powerful few, but also its the responsibility of journalists to keep an eye on all institutions and branches of goverment that serves the general public, and report not only on their mishaps but successess as well.
6)Forum for the public: Another important pillar of Journalism is that it must provide an open forum for the public to dicuss the main topics of their times. Journalism has an obligation to provide truthfull and accurate information for the public to make a correct and an informed decision as well as to carry out a discussion within the community.
7)Making news relevant and engaging: Every story has a different level of interest and relevance from one reader to another. The job of the journalist is to write the sotry in such a way that incorporates the meaning of the story itself while relating it to the lives and well-being of the readers. Such a responsibilty is entirely depended on the style in which each journalist tell his/her story by.
8)Keeping the news comprehensive and in proportion: This obligations points out the need for the reader to see a wide variety of groups of society represented in the coverage. With minimal space and money, the tendency to cover a certain demographic is increased leading to the miseducation of the many and the overeducation of a few. This dynamic creates a shift in the balance of a society on many levels.
9)Journalists have an obligation to excersize personal concience: Every journalist should be able to offer their opinions in the news room and with their editors without fear of being fired or punished. For it is for hte betterment of journalism that there are differing opinions inside each news room.
10)The public's rights and responsibilities:Just as people can expect journalists to meet the above mentioned 9 elements of journalism to the best of their ability, people have the responsibility to make sure that journalism continues to follow on that track.