Investigative journalism results in a story being printed or uncovered that, were it not for the individual efforts of the investigative journalist, might never see the light of day. If we look at the example of Gladys Tydings, we can see that investigative reporting is often a public service, one without geographical limits where no subject is considered off-limits. Gladys was faced with ethical and career considerations when she discovered corruption in the Mayor’s office of her small town. While local politics and back-slapping prevented her editor from wanting to print the story, her determination that what she was doing was right and valuable to the public saw her story finally reach print in a larger, more metropolitan paper.
We see in this example that the investigative reporter’s job and integrity are even more crucial to the public good in our era where many media outlets are controlled by a handful of wealthy, private individuals. Because of this, the cross-links between newspapers and ownership jeopardize freedom of speech. Quite often the wealthy media moguls squash stories that might impact other of their interests. In an infamous case which involved 60 Minutes, one of the most respected investigative reporting outlets in the nation, an insider’s story revealing widespread corruption and deceit in the tobacco industry was not broadcast because of potential lawsuits from the tobacco industry which may have put off potential investors who were looking to buy CBS. Thus, without investigative journalists like Gladys Tydings, we would have even less of a chance of exposing corruption and deceit by powerful interests in American society.
However, we can see from Gladys’ story that the individual journalist often has conflicts of interest and ethical decisions confronting her when she must decided whether or not to print a story that will harm interests somehow connected with the
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