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
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Pesach Benson

Content: It can be singular, still. Interconnection is not presence. Related reading: News Literacy: The 7 News Habits You Need to Develop
3. 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.