New study finds journalists score far lower in moral reasoning than they did 13 years ago

submitted by Chipit from psypost.org

all 19 comments
sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun

[–]SteveTafe 7 insightful - 4 fun7 insightful - 3 fun8 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

Journalism and morals, that's an oxymoron

[–]AntiLowEffortHuman 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Besides, they've gotten pretty lady lazy as far as I've noticed. Why go hunting for stories when you can go to Twitter and write some bullshit about what drumpf tweeted and how people responded

[–]FormosaOolong 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

well there's a surprise...

[–]Nemacolin 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (12 children)

As opposed to the general population? Look at the comments here or on Reddit and tell me about the average person's moral reasoning.

[–]Chipit[S] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

But journalists are specially trained. They are society's best people (according to journalists). There have been proposals for laws that would give them special rights and make them citizens above everyone else. For them to be revealed to be worse than they used to be is highly revealing.

[–]Nemacolin 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

No. Not really. I do not know anyone who thinks journalist are morally superior.

[–]jamesK_3rd 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

It isn't necessarily about their morality. Many big organization journalists claim smaller journalists and bloggers aren't true journo and shouldn't be protected. Individuals such as Andy Ngo come to mind. In addition to their demands for deference to their authority, they generally have been attempting to stifle smaller outlets, or larger platforms that independent horrendous journos may use, such as Facebook, twitch or WordPress.

It's a big reason we've seen the push for censorship by media outlets under the guise of curtailing fake news. They generally think you're to stupid to read and make an informed decision yourself..

I

[–]Nemacolin 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I am unaware of any big (press) organization saying the small fry do not count. Whose demands for deference to authority? Who has been trying to stifle smaller outlets? Please tell us which media outlets are pushing for censorship.

[–]Chipit[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

You must have missed the gigantic outcry against bloggers. Suddenly anyone with a keyboard could report news, and journalists interpreted it as a threat. Remember when the blog Little Green Footballs broke the Dan Rather fake news story? The animated .gif heard 'round the world? His fake memo was exposed by rewriting it in MS Word and playing it back and forth with the document that CBS released. They were identical. MS Word didn't exist in the 70s. A major journalist, a highly credible and respected news anchor, got caught in a lie that they were accustomed to getting away with. It was a huge embarrassment, and instead of resolving to be better, they resolved to declare war on bloggers.

Then we were all treated to an entertaining cavalcade of people coming out with bizarre theories of obscure typewriters in the 70s that could possibly type the memo, when it was an obvious forgery. Journalists didn't take this as a warning to not publish fake news, they took it as an assault. One of them famously called bloggers "idiots in their pajamas", leading to the establishment of Pajamas Media, a thorn in the side of fake news until this day.

Seriously, this was a big deal and I'm surprised you're not aware of it.

[–]Nemacolin 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I am sure it was a big deal. Please provide a cite. Many thanks.

[–]Chipit[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Journalists and their fellow travelers certainly do.

[–]JasonCarswell 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Most people are stupider than average or very close to it.

The bell curve doesn't lie.

It's harder to tell someone they've been fooled than to fool them.

So, a few smart folks can make a lot of work for the few smart folks who are trying to keep information honest. Most smart folks are too busy doing other smart things, nor have time to delve into the "truth" of matters - so they simple repeat the foolery.

[–]The_Lear_Bluce_Ree 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

You cannot compare the behavior of a random individual on an anonymous message board (some with numerous throwaway accounts) to a university educated journalist that works for a platform intended to inform and educate the public on various aspects of society and government.

And if you can then God help us all because the situation is way worse than this article suggests.

[–]Nemacolin 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I can compare a large number of random people to journalists.

[–]The_Lear_Bluce_Ree 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Oh I completely misread what you were saying. You were saying that the moral values of people in general is less as well. I apologize.

[–]Nemacolin 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

We talk about a "dumbing down" of Americans or even a "decline of the West." Part of that is the decline of our individual moral compasses.

[–]solder0 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I'm wondering when one of these journalists is going to have their own Freddie Lounds moment.

[–]Chipit[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

If anyone knew who that was.

[–]JasonCarswell 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

If only we had an ethical journalist to research it. Or some magic tool...

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Freddie+Lounds