Last Updated: February 10, 1997
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Making the right call is everyone's job
A journalist's judgment works as a regulator for the
journalism values system
Value No. 6: Judgment
Editors at the JVI seminars agreed journalists of the 21st century will
continue to practice their skills as synthesizers of news and information
each day. The editors remained steadfast that journalists must make such
judgments independent of outside pressures.
Judging how journalistic values literally play out daily and over time
is becoming more and more challenging.
The JVI editors eventually agreed judgment plays the role of regulator
for the journalism values system – much like a regulator in a car. Judgment
is a filter through which the values of balance, accuracy, leadership and
accessibility flow to create, ultimately, credibility.
Within this context, editors concluded that all members of the newsroom
staff – not just editors – must continually exercise judgments. Thus, what
began as "editorial judgment" evolved into judgment.
In exercising judgment, the editors agreed that journalists need to
provide more in-depth accounts that explain the context, meaning and nuances
of issues and events. A newspaper's coverage must reflect a diversity of
voices and viewpoints. And journalists should enable people to make their
own judgments.
Yet, people left the JVI seminars still sorting out how to put their
judgment into play in ways that are meaningful and newsworthy to readers.
The editors said this will be an ongoing tension each newspaper must resolve
on its own, based on a deep understanding of what is important to the communities
it serves.
The editors believed that judgment takes more than producing daily news
stories. The real test is how journalists use their judgment to filter
the values of balance, accuracy, leadership and accessibility to help a
newspaper gain credibility.
What does it mean to exercise judgment?
Consider how to...
- Add value to people's lives by selecting, shaping and bringing
definition to what is important and interesting – not merely provide information.
- Identify the different people who are affected by an issue –
help readers understand their and others' stakes through our coverage.
- Keep coverage interesting – inform, educate, challenge, delight
and surprise.
- Be knowledgeable explainers – explore, uncover and find new
connections; provide a sense of present and past.
- Provide people with the information they need – context, perspective
and meaning to make their own judgments.
- Tap a wide range of voices (cultural, religious, political,
ethnic) that help illuminate different viewpoints.
- Use the newspaper's understanding of the public and communities
as a context for making judgments.
- Exercise judgments independent of outside forces.
- Recognize that journalistic assumptions exist – uncover and
ask how institutional and individual biases may affect news coverage.
Ask yourself...
- What will be our basis for making judgments about how to add context
and perspective so that readers find our coverage meaningful and newsworthy?
- How should newspapers and journalists define what is of real importance
– rather than just of interest – to their readers?
- How should we deal with our journalistic biases once we uncover them?
How can we constructively deal with them in news coverage?
- What is the definition of diversity in our community? How broadly should
we define, for instance, different voices?
