Setting limits and controlling the media for ethical journalism

The news media faces many challenges in the 21st century. Profits, the driving force for much of the media, are no longer easy to come by with traditional incomes such as advertising moving online. Attracting income means producing what consumers will pay for. While consumers want to be entertained, they also want accurate, ethical news alongside their dancing cat videos, and journalists need to remember that news must be accurate and ethical or the public will stop buying it. Fake news is easy to find for free. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the problems journalists face. People are desperate for accurate news about the virus and how to stay safe. But accurate news is scarce when so many seek to profit financially, politically, or reputationally from the pandemic with tales untested by scientific evidence. Newspaper sales are up but will only stay up if the journalism is of a high standard. One way of ensuring quality journalism is by setting up regulatory bodies whose job it is to set standards and protect the public from poor journalism. © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Lada Trifonova Price, Karen Sanders, and Wendy N. Wyatt. All rights reserved.