‘VALUE-BASED JOURNALISM’: THE NEED OF THE HOUR

Abstract

The paper projects how journalism can inculcate values in the students of 21^st century when the excessively materialistic life has made us all forget these values. It focuses on the different ethical values like Authenticity, Impartiality, Humanity, Acceptance of Fault and Answerability. Authenticity means getting the facts right and ensuring that they are correct. Impartiality means that a journalist should not be partial towards the political and influential people. Humanity is the awareness of the impact of words and images on the lives of people. A journalist should make sure that the news does not affect the people. Acceptance of Fault means that a journalist should accept if he commits some errors and correct them.  Moreover, a journalist should be able to satisfy the queries of the audience, this is called Answerability. It is the Ethical Journalism only, which can control and mark the end of Yellow Journalism. Yellow Journalism is that which is not based on truth, facts, real news and events.  It presents trivial news and uses eye-catching headlines to sell more and more newspapers. The future of journalism depends on how well the students master the essential values of journalistic integrity and ethics. Therefore, Value-Based Journalism should be taught in all the universities, so that the students today learn and inculcate these values and practise them not only in their profession and at workplace but in their day to day lives also.