Anonymous source, are you trustworthy?

Anonymous sources are everywhere!!

In the field of journalism there comes a time where you need to use an anonymous source, times when you have to cover a big story maybe in politics, crime or whatever investigative piece you’re working on. An anonymous source is an individual who gives you information regarding a certain issue or topic; however a question that remains is whether or not journalist should use anonymous sources.

In an article John Daniszwski wrote he says no one would want to read an article that had unnamed and unaccountable sources as it would look bad for the publications as they would be seen as unreliable which he had a good point. However there comes a time and place where a journalist has no choice but to use an unnamed source.’’ In a perfect world all information would be attributed to named, on-the-record sources that would be held accountable for the accuracy of their information”. However at times there may be a need for a journalist to use information from anonymous sources in order for them to cover an important story that could most probably be in the public’s interest.

 

The main reason as to why unidentified sources are mainly used is to bring light to information that might have stayed in the dark because someone didn’t want to give up the information because they are afraid of what could happen to them or their loved ones if the story came out. So when we look at the purpose of unidentified sources we need to look at the bigger picture as to why there is a need for unidentified sources.

However as a journalist you need to ensure that you are sure about the information you about to use especially when it is an anonymous source, because we need to be aware that anonymous sources can give journalist the wrong information just because they have their own hidden agenda and it could be that they have fabricated the whole thing or that they have changed the story or changed the information in order to benefit them. Therefore you need to be sure of your facts as a journalist as well as having as much background information on the story you’re covering and of the anonymous source.

There are rules and regulations that journalist need to follow, according to the Codes and ethics for South Africa print and online media, news should be obtained legally, honestly and fairly and should be in the best interest of the public. It does not say that it is wrong to use anonymous sources nor does it say that sources names should be revealed when the informant does not seem comfortable with that.

There are different media-ethical frameworks that journalist use as a form of principle, a journalist with the deontological framework would use an anonymous source if he/she believes it is in the best interest of the public and believed that it is the right thing to do. With this being said journalist also need to be wary of the fact that you cant always trust an anonymous source and that even though you may think its in the best interest of society you also need to evaluate the outcomes and do a thorough investigation as to whether or not you can trust an unidentified source

In 2007 a media house was found in violation of the press code after publishing a story which he was given by an anonymous source. According to the source he heard  a conversation between former presidency general Frank Chikane and former public enterprises minister Alec Erwin during the ANC’s elective conference that the former president of South Africa, Mr Thabo Mbeki was reportedly asked to take himself out of the running for the ANC presidency in the face of open hostility by supporters of Jacob Zuma who was eventually elected.

After this story came out Chikane complained that he had not discussed such a meeting with Erwin while the two were reported to be sitting together at the lunch during the conference. It was then found out that the journalist    did not try to get in contact with Erwin in order for him to get a comment about this. The ombudsman then said that no one who went to the meeting that Sunday was contacted and the journalist didn’t get a quote to back his sources information therefore there is no proof that it is true.

This is a clear example that as a journalist you should always check your facts and get a comment from the person who is being mentioned before publishing a story, especially if the information that you have recieved is from an anonymous source because its hard to tell whether or not the person is telling the truth. In order for you to be on the safe side you need to ensure that you have done your research thoroughly before publishing.

Automated Journalism: The new and improved way of journalism!

In the world we live in today technology changes and improves very quickly and even though many people may not easily adjust to these new changes are happening whether you like it or not. With these new changes and improvements the digital era has made its way to journalism which is what we call robot journalism. As aspiring journalist one would be afraid of these changes and how they will impact us in the future.

 

 

Media houses have found a new way of writing and publishing stories faster than before which is called automated journalism. Automated journalism is the use of algorithms which automatically converts data into stories without any human contact leaving you with the question, what will happen to human journalist since it seems like robots do a much better job than us.

Many news organisations are slowly starting to grasp the concept of automated journalism and it has created a certain amount of discomfort among journalist as they fear that they will lose their jobs to computers as the computers will be doing his or her work. However we shouldn’t just look at the downside of automated journalism as it does work in the favour of media houses because now they will be getting more news stories out there quicker and cheaper and with fewer errors in comparison to human journalist because human can slip up from time to time cause we are humans after all, automated journalism has arrived and is more likely to stay.

I believe we shouldn’t let the fear of change blind us from the positive outcomes that will come with this new technology, it has already been discover that it will be cheaper and lets all face it money will always be an issue on most things because at the end of the day it is a business and automated journalism will give out quality of stories which in essence is what we journalist aspiring want, to give the public good quality stories which are factual and accurate. What should also be kept in mind that robots can’t be humans they aren’t put in place to replace us but to lift the workload of journalist in order for them to focus on hard hitting stories other than the ‘’weather, stock market and sport results’’

”One irony of automation is that it is only as good as humans make it. That applies to both the main types of automated journalism. In the first, the computer will generate the story or headline by itself. But it needs humans to tell it what to look for, where to look for it and to guarantee its independence and transparency to our readers.”

Automated journalism is indeed the future of journalism and it isnt a bad thing because it can not replace humans although they will be doing some of the work journalist were taught and are use to doing, robots or a computer can’t match up to human journalism because people dont want to read bland stories that are just factual, people need human contact whether they are just reading and article or if they are being interviewed. In order for automated journalism to work it needs to work alongside actual human journalist.