By Mackenzie McClintock
Start with constant criticism from high-profile government officials about news coverage. Then mix in increasingly prevalent screams of “Fake News!” directed at the media.
That breaking news statistics piece was also slightly incorrect due to the source’s miscalculation, so issue an apology statement. The story will stir itself and result in a sloppy comment section where the writer is torn apart for someone else’s mistake.
Cook until it is so overdone that journalists are as confused as ever as to how to do their jobs.
The average person expects journalists to tell the truth in an unbiased way. The only thing wrong with that is the incredible pressure it puts on journalists to be perfect.
Their ethical standards must be set so high that they may often fall short in the public’s eye. Many journalists who would never mislead or lie can make a mistake in their reporting and count on having it turned into a mockery of a hashtag on social media.
The interesting, possibly slightly awkward, realization is how often the average person lies. While some accuse journalists of fraudulent work, experts have found people lie each day for various reasons.
Robert Feldman, a professor of psychology and brain sciences at University of Massachusetts Amherst, discussed lying in an interview with Allure Magazine where he simplified how often it occurs.
“Lying is so much a part of everyday discourse that we do it without thinking about it,” Feldman said. “What’s really interesting is you can ask somebody to look back on a conversation, and invariably they’ll say, ‘I was totally truthful.’ Show them a video, and they’ll find that’s just not the case.”
The thought of lying may make some journalists hot and sweaty, while others could see themselves lying in specific situations. Threats to national security, cases of sexual assault and reporting undercover could all result in an ethical dilemma with lying or maintaining anonymity.
Thomas G. Plante, who holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, wrote several years ago in a blog post for Psychology Today about these resulting, twisted ethical decisions because of the way lies can affect and hurt other people.
“When it comes to making ethical decisions we need to balance the pros and cons of using multiple approaches to ethics in order to figure out what the right thing to do really is,” Plante said. “Sometimes different ethical approaches conflict. When they do, certain values or approaches must trump others. So, compassion might trump honesty on occasion.”
Opinions on the ethical implications of lying for journalists and non-media members could be completely different, but that does not erase the fact that people do tell small lies every day. The tendency for people to embellish their speech, or lie to impress others, means journalists may need to check their sources even more than they already do.
Lying can be a useful tool in communication, said Darrin Griffin, who holds a doctorate in communication, and is an assistant professor at the University of Alabama in communication studies. He also is a co-author of a book on the subject, “Lying and Deception in Human Interaction.”
Griffin noted those who use lying and deception effectively in communication are not seen as liars by others because they consider the ethical implications of telling the truth.
“If you just relied on truth-telling in your life you’d be completely ineffective as a communicator,” Griffin said. “Effective communicators rely on all of their tools to achieve their goals, but the ethical part is they consider the goals of their counterparts and the ethics of the situation: Who wins? Who loses? Who might get hurt? So ethical communicators, who are effective, rely on deception in a way in which other people would deem them to be appropriate.”
Among the messy recipes for solving ethical dilemmas, journalists have no choice but to mash together a response for difficult situations as they consult their colleagues and codes of ethics along the way. It may be important for those outside the newsroom to remember, however, that journalists have feelings, too.