Committing acts of journalism

Published 9:00 am Sunday, November 27, 2016

Georgia journalism is alive and well. 

The state of newspapers in our state is strong. 

Acts of great journalism are happening from Dalton to Atlanta, from Milledgeville to Tifton, from Moultrie to Thomasville, from Valdosta to the Georgia coast and in almost every town and county in between. 

Newspapers are publishing investigative pieces, championing open government, defending the First Amendment and providing engaging human interest features in print and online. 

Could we all be doing more? Of course we could — and should. 

Newspapers providing real news are more important than ever in all our communities. People want and need reliable sources of information they can trust. 

Social media posts, blogs and less than credible websites blur the lines between fact and fiction and leave the public confused more than informed. 

Journalists are out in communities across the state of Georgia every day attending city council and county commission meetings, talking to farmers about the impact of drought, interviewing business leaders about economic conditions and covering school assemblies and sporting events. 

Reporting facts, celebrating communities and demanding accountability, the journalists at local newspapers provide a valuable service to their readers every day. 

Fake news reports shared on social media and driving traffic on websites highlight just how valuable a resource legitimate, bona fide newspapers are to the communities they serve. 

As newspapers provide the news on multiple platforms — legacy print, websites, SMS and social media — reporters understand more people have access to the news, features and information they provide than has ever been possible. Small community weekly newspapers that once had hundreds of readers now have thousands and dailies that had thousands of readers now have tens of thousands and even millions of readers. 

It is an exciting time to be a journalist. 

Journalists know they can inspire, inform, educate and improve the communities they serve. They can expose corruption, champion important causes and motivate greatness. 

Their words can stimulate thought, incubate conversation, empower the powerless, bring laughter and invoke tears. Most important, their words can be trusted. 

David Chavern of News Media Alliance reported that newspapers across the country saw a bump in subscriptions following the election. While there is no science behind the observation, it could be more people are turning to their local newspaper because of the outbreak of fake news during the election. 

Scores of misleading — and downright false — reports circulated on social media. Alarmingly, in many cases fake news drove more web traffic, got shared more often and showed up in Google searches more than the actual, real, news. Social media reports that do not link back to legitimate news sources should simply not be trusted. 

Chavern aptly pointed out, “The algorithms of Facebook and Google lack the human editorial element to decide when a story is false. Mark Zuckerberg said that ‘identifying the truth is complicated.’ But somehow journalists have managed to be the purveyors of truth for centuries.’”

Most people who share fake news posts are well-meaning and actually think what they are reading is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. To be fair, the average person does not have the time or resources to fact check everything they read on social media, on a blog or hear on talk radio, for that matter. 

What you can do is rely on a legacy news source for your news — knowing that real reporters are interviewing, researching and writing about real things — and rely on social media for socializing and entertainment. 

– By Jim Zachary

Jim Zachary is CNHI regional editor for Georgia and Florida, editor of the Valdosta Daily Times and director of the Transparency Project of Georgia. He serves on the board of directors of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation and is the vice-chair of the Red & Black serving the University of Georgia.