The internet is a wonderful thing, it connects people to the world around them, and around others as well. The benefits are incredible, but there still are issues surrounding how we and others use this great invention.

One of the biggest issues we face is news, and reporting. Journalism has finally come full circle, and most news is spread via the web, even by well known journalists. Newsprint and the 6 o’clock news have turned into online news and twitter feeds.

The updates are faster, more easily accessible, free, but with these advantages comes one big disadvantage: credibility.

If we get our news from these sources, who’s to say the journalists reporting back to us aren’t using the same tools we are? And who’s to say that that source is credible?

Comments on internet articles make it immensely easier for those in the know to correct information, or indulge on information given to remove bias, or to set the record straight.

But those in the know can’t be every where, correcting all the biased or incorrect articles. We need another system.

We need a system, not dissimilar to that used by teachers and professors to check that an essay hasn’t been copied from another source. Something that checks where the information came from, and the relevance and credibility of said source.

A study conducted by a university, or committee will, and should, hold more sway than a publicly edited wiki article, for example.

This will force journalists to check and re-check their sources, and present a better product and better information.

Another facet could be to check the amount and locations of the sources.

An article which pulls heavily from one committee’s findings, yet ignores another reports findings, likely for sake of bias, is not a credible news source, and should not deserve to be considered as such.

With the wide world of the internet, and all that it gives us, one thing we need is credible journalism, but certain measures have to be put in place to force journalistic integrity, and to push for unbiased and correct information in articles.

We need a system, and we need it now.

Any ideas on how to implement this system? Or how we can push for more journalistic integrity?

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Technorati Tags: Education, information, integrity, Journalism, Society

Education · information · integrity · Journalism · Society