The Relationship Between Profits and Good Journalism

Profits and Journalism in Conflict

Profits and good journalism have conflicted for a long period more so where a market-based approach is employed. Government involvement in journalism can have a positive impact on the journalism industry because most private sectors put profit-making ahead of public service. This is why some journalists concentrate on broadcasting what the citizens what to hear but not what is needed of them since what they want to hear can be attractive to most of them. In the United States, market-driven journalism structure is employed where journalism has been left under the control of individual owners and shareholders. Although money is required by news organizations for them to perform public services, they should not be driven by profits rather; they should focus on meeting public service at a little pay.

The Compromise of Profit-driven Journalism

I agree that profits and good journalism cannot be in line with each other. This is because the market-driven journalism stricture measures its success regarding the profit made hence are not interested in the service offered to the public. Due to this, journalists have always delivered what the media want to hear but not what is needed so that they can gain better profits. In the United States, journalists who employ a market-based approach are more profitable compared to those who are under government control (Craft 94). This has compromised the quality of public services offered in the United States by the media group because the owners of the news organization dictate how they want the news delivered so that they can gain more profit. Thus, profits do not determine the quality of news delivered by journalists in the United States.

The Lack of Balance in Profit-driven Journalism

In the United States, profits and good journalism cannot exist because of the market-driven journalism structure that is employed. According to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the press is assured of freedom without government intrusion (Craft 96). Due to this, the government has limited control over the information people get. This has made individual owners take advantage of the limited government control as a way to release information that will earn higher profits for the broadcasting industry. Consequently, individual owners end up broadcasting the information that will attract more profits rather than the important information that is required by the public service.

The Business Focus of United States Media

The United States media group has been so busy meeting the demands of the business which made them unable to concentrate on the goal of public service. Due to this, dissatisfaction has been reported by many individuals since the news is focused on irrelevant matters making them cheap and entertaining but do not pass the required information to the citizens (Craft 97). What is more, when the media is left in the hands of the private sector, some programs will not be broadcasted especially if they are not appealing to citizens and are expensive to create. This is because such programs can be less profitable to the individual owners of the media industry. With this, it is clear that organizations driven by profits cannot meet the demands of good journalism, and the United States media industry has proved to be unable to bridge the gap.

The Conflict between Profit and Good Journalism

Despite the advantages that the United States media group achieves by not being intruded by the government, dissatisfaction has been reported by citizens where the media broadcast irrelevant cheap news, leaving out important news. The market-based system used in the United States profit based and to meet its profit goal, it broadcast what the citizens what to hear and not what is needed. Thus, I agree that profits and good journalism cannot co-exist in the United States as long as the market-driven journalism structure is employed.

Works Cited

Craft, Stephanie, and Charles N. Davis. Principles of American journalism: An introduction. Routledge, 2016.