Journalism as a Watchdog

The public has a right to know. That may be the feeling of many journalists that look to expose the wrong doings of people around the world. Whether it is a high-ranking official or celebrity or a local body getting away with illegal activities, some journalists look to expose the truth even if it may cause a problem to the world around them. Watchdog or investigative journalism can be a fun and exciting form of journalism. Headlines and exciting stories that no one else has can make the difference in jobs and paychecks. When a reporter breaks a story such as the Pentagon Papers or Watergate scandal, it makes the kinds of stories that the public’s wants to hear, but it is often at the expense of the loss of reputation for a person or group. It just comes down to the feeling that the public has a right to know what is happening in the world around them.
During the tenure of George W. Bush many pushed for opening up and finding out about his war record. Many journalists commented on it, but Dan Rather really pushed it as he had a negative history with the family (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHal4gUGSA0). President Bush’s military record is somewhat frowned upon. He came from a rich, well-known family and while many were fighting in Vietnam, he was tucked safely away in the National Guard. Television programs obtained documents that were negative about President Bush and it showed that he received special treatment and other things as well. It was later found, that the television stations had not authenticated the documents to find out that they were really true. Bloggers and panelists on television shows blasted programs for not authenticating and posting things that may or may not have been true. This brings up an important part of investigative journalism. Investigators need to make sure that sources are reliable and correct. It is easy to just spout off a story that would be enticing for readers. When a journalist fails to do this correctly, they can lose their job and much worse, lose the respect of their readers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killian_documents).
In an earlier chapter in our text, it mentioned that during investigative or even undercover reporting, reporters may dig too deep into a story and may put their lives in jeopardy. In the 2007 film State of Play, Russell Crowe’s character is a good friend of Ben Affleck’s character who is a politician caught up in a scandal. The more and more Crowe digs into the investigations, the more he exposes. This puts the life of Crowe’s character in jeopardy and to stop him from exposing the truths, he is almost killed. Many reporters have been in similar situations and some have been fatally killed (www.azcentral.com/specials/special01/0528bolles-profile.html). Journalists need to make sure they are careful as they look for the next top story.
Journalism is a watchdog as it reports the things that are happening in the world. At times journalists may become advocates in a situation that they are passionate about, but as long as they try to show a lack bias in their writing, safety, and authentic and correct sources, they will be successful.