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: 1. To Inform Us
Apprising us of current events is the most obvious purpose of journalism. If you want to know what happened at the city council meeting, how a company you invested in is doing in the stock market, or if your team won last night’s game, you turn to the news. It’s not just local. If you want to find out how a certain policy debate is playing out in the nation’s capital, or learn more about a natural disaster in a distant corner of the world, you turn to the news. It’s called news because you’re learning what’s new in the world. Journalism expands our horizons beyond our immediate community. It helps us understand our neighborhood and the rest of the world a little better, helps us identify friends and foes, provides an opportunity to learn from the experience of others, and gives us an awareness to take action. Beyond the daily developments, journalism allows us to take stock of our society by reporting on trends. Journalism draws our attention to problems like rising crime rates, declining matriculation, business bubbles waiting to burst or the unintended consequences of an initiative to fight pollution.