Shifting Roles, Enduring Values: The Credible Journalist in a Digital Age

Abstract

When everyone can be a publisher, what distinguishes the journalist? This article considers contemporary challenges to institutional roles in a digital media environment and then turns to three broad journalistic normative values—authenticity, accountability, and autonomy—that affect the credibility of journalists and the content they provide. A set of questions that can help citizens determine the trustworthiness of information available to them emerges from the discussion.

Notes

A meme refers to a replicator, the emotions, the intellectual struggles, the subjective experiences that lead to some behaviors being imitated and others not, thus providing a mechanism for the evolution of ideas. Blackmore, S. (1999).

Two additional news councils in Southern California and New England are being formed with help from seed money provided by the Knight Foundation.