Title: The Purpose of Journalism: What Do We Need It For? | Honest Reporting
Headings: The Purpose of Journalism: What Do We Need It For?
The Purpose of Journalism: What Do We Need It For?
1. To Inform Us
2. Bearing Witness
3. The Watchdog Role
4. Conveying Context
5. Setting The Tone of Public Debate
The Public Has Responsibilities Too
Join the Premier Mission to Israel
Pesach Benson

Content: The Watchdog Role
Another key purpose of journalism is to bring transparency to the affairs of individuals and institutions in positions of power and hold them accountable. Ida Tarbell, the first ‘muckraker’
Ida Tarbell was the first writer to be called a “muckraker” for describing the excesses of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company in a series of articles for McClure’s Magazine in 1902-03. As a result of Tarbell’s journalism, the US Supreme Court eventually ruled that Standard was an illegal monopoly and ordered it broken up, Congress passed a number of acts reforming interstate commerce and anti-trust laws, and created the Federal Trade Commission. Her series, “The History of the Standard Oil Company” was later republished in book form. Washington Post coverage of the Watergate scandal is generally regarded as the classic example of investigative journalism. Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were assigned to cover a 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, located in Washington D.C.’s Watergate building. Woodward and Bernstein traced the burglars’ ties to the White House and President Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign. Disclosures of wire tapped phones, politically-motivated FBI investigations, hush money and more eventually led to Nixon’s resignation. Among the more recent examples of notable watchdogging are: The Indianapolis Star’s exposure of widespread sexual abuse at USA Gymnastics.