Newspaper Journalism

Since newspapers began as a journal (record of

current events), the profession involved in the
making of newspapers began to be called
journalism. Much emphasis has been placed upon
the accuracy and fairness of the journalist - see
Ethics.

In the yellow journalism era of the 19th century,
many newspapers in the United States relied on
sensational stories that were meant to anger or
excite the public, rather than to inform. The more
restrained style of reporting that relies on fact
checking and accuracy regained popularity around
World War II.

Criticism of journalism is varied and sometimes
vehement. Credibility is questioned because of
anonymous sources; errors in facts, spelling, and
grammar; real or perceived bias; and scandals
involving plagiarism and fabrication.

In the past newspapers have often been owned by
so-called press barons, and were used either as a
rich man's toy, or a political tool. More recently in
the United States, a greater number of
newspapers (and all of the largest ones) are being
run by large media corporations such as Gannett
(the largest in the United States), The McClatchy
Company, Cox, LandMark, Morris Corp., The
Tribune Company, etc. Many industry watchers
have concerns that the growing need for profit
growth natural to corporations will have a
negative impact on the overall quality of
journalism.

There is no doubt, however, that newpapers have,
in the modern world, played an important role in
the exercise of freedom of expression. Whistle-
blowers, and those who 'leak' stories of corruption
in political circles often choose to inform
newspapers before other mediums of
communication, relying on the perceived
willingness of newspaper editors to expose the
secrets and lies of those who would rather cover
them. However, there have been many
circumstances of the political autonomy of
newspapers being curtailed. In 2003, there was
widespread outrage and condemnation when the
Spanish Civil Guard closed down the offices of
Egunkaria, the only Basque language newspaper,
and arrested its staff, with allegations of
collaboration with the terrorist Basque separatist
movement, ETA.
Even though the opinions of the owners are often
relegated to the editorial section, and the opinions
of the readers are in the op-ed ("opposite the
editorial page") and letters to the editors sections
of the paper, newspapers have been used for
political purposes by insinuating some kind of bias
outside of the editorial section and into straight
news. For example, The New York Times is often
criticised for a perceived leftist slant to its stories,
or, by others, for supporting the American political
establishment, whereas the opinion pages (but not
the news pages) of the The Wall Street Journal
generally take right-wing positions.

Some ways newspapers have tried to improve
their credibility are: appointing ombudsmen,
developing ethics policies and training, using more
stringent corrections policies, communicating their
processes and rationale with readers, and asking
sources to review articles after publication. Many
larger newspapers are now using more aggressive
random fact-checking to further improve the
chances that false information will be found before
it is printed.