Based on Greenwald's statement, we can reasonably conclude that the society today will challenge the transparency of the news to determine its credibility. Journalism ethics encourage truthful, accurate, and honest information. If a piece of information is to be published, there is no reason to conceal certain parts of the truth (Woodhead, 2010).
The transparency in the mass media can occur even in a democratic country. Transparency in information disclosure is often caused by the censorship or law imposed by the authority, usually the government. Political operatives can make up the political advantage of transparency through media manipulations (Balkin, 1999). These can be caused by repressive acts, printing laws, or self-censorship for the journalists. As a result, information released by the media maybe left in a vague manner, or altered in terms of the context of how the people view it (Balkin, 1999). Consequently, there exist a miscommunication due to a covered-up information. A piece of information that has underwent the transparency process can contain a certain level of biasness and self-justification. However, there are certain scholars that encourage the ideology of media transparency. Plaisance (2007) argues that the lack of transparency for news media could mean the withdrawal of the journalists' obligation to filter the news, instead of shoveling everything to the audience.
Yellow journalism is another aspect that has arguably violated the journalism ethics. The media today is growing towards sensationalism in their publishing of information. Sensational news are more likely to provoke the readers emotional reaction compared to the traditional political or economical news (Grabe et al., 2001). This has caused the media to publish sensationalized news because sensational news can attract readership. The motive for profit in publishing is often linked to the use of sensationalism (Grabe et al., 2001). While sensationalized news targets emotional arousement, amusement, or just purely entertainment, the normal (important) news should be prioritised because they contain the information that the readers should know.
An example of 'sensationalized news'.
Caption: News informing the spliting-up between a popular football star and his girlfriend.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101113/en_afp/fblgeresprealozil
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References
American Politics, 2010, Ideology, public opinion, and media, laits.utexas.edu, viewed 14th November 2010, http://www.laits.utexas.edu/gov310/IPOM/glossary.html.
Balkin, J 1999, How mass media simulate political transparency, Cultural Values, vol. 3, no. 4, viewed 14th November 2010,
http://web.ebscohost.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&hid=110&sid=d1c63783-d2a1-413f-950a-6c3c22c2e867%40sessionmgr115.
Grabe, M, Zhou, S, Barnett, B 2001, Explicating sensationalism in television news: content and the bells and whistles of form, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 635-655, viewed 14th November, 2010,
http://web.ebscohost.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&hid=110&sid=78789bf9-2d10-466a-9edd-49cddad71226%40sessionmgr104.
Plaisance, P 2007, Transparency: an assessment of the kantian roots of a key element in media ethics practice, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, vol. 22, no. 2&3, pp. 187-207 viewed 14th November 2010,
http://web.ebscohost.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=14&hid=110&sid=6632df76-6de7-4f1a-8063-977e6f6c67a5%40sessionmgr112.
Woodhead, J 2010, New media, old journalism, ABC.net.au, viewed 13rd November 2010,
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/35380.html.
Yahoo news, 2010, Real's Ozil splits from homesick girlfriend, news.yahoo.com, viewed 14th November 2010, http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101113/en_afp/fblgeresprealozil.
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