Watchdog Journalism

Watchdog journalism is making the affairs of the powerful intuitions more transparent to the public. Nine out of ten journalists believe that the press keeps political leaders from doing things that they shouldn’t do.

Watchdog journalism carries a greater responsibility for journalists because not only do they have to verify their facts, but they must also be careful in how they share the information. Journalism full of endless criticisms loses meaning, and the public will eventually have no basis for judging good from bad.

One example of successful watchdog journalism is the Watergate scandal. Without journalists, the scandal most likely would not have been uncovered and would have caused even greater damage than it did.

However, what is happening to watchdog journalism today?

Much of reporting these days consists of tabloid treatment of everyday circumstances. Is this OK? Do we really need to hear about Michael Jackson's death, or Kim Kardashian's 72-day marriage?

The tabloids are mainly entertainment and not news that will benefit the public in any way. However, sometimes it takes a little entertainment to keep your audience listening and interested. You just have to find a balance. A little entertainment here and there is all right, but when it begins to become more frequent and take the place of real news stories that could be of benefit to your audience, that is when it becomes too much.

However, you also have to be careful that when you include those types of things, you make sure that it is reliable. The public does not always have a way of discerning between gossip and fact, and lots of stories featured in tabloids end up just being gossip that gets spread around. Go out and actually find your facts for yourself. Don’t trust someone else to tell you what really happened.

To conclude, watchdog journalism, though still existent, is being seen less and less in the media. We should be making sure that we are keeping our priorities in order and delivering what is really important to the public. As Finley Peter Dunne from the Chicago Journalist & Humorist said, the job of journalists is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”